Notes from the virtual Spring 2021 Civil Society Policy Forum on 25 March 2021.
Covid-19
Social services
Analysis
World Bank support for Covid-19 vaccination fails to ensure equitable access
World Bank’s Covid-19 vaccination programme contributes to global response but fails to ensure free access to vaccines and healthcare during the pandemic.
Rights
Analysis
Latin American Indigenous Peoples call on World Bank to safeguard their rights
Latin American Indigenous Peoples call on the World Bank to safeguard their rights and ensure its programmes are based on their own proposals.
IFI governance
Analysis
Gambling with our lives: Global emergencies expose consequences of decades of IMF and World Bank policies
Market-led policy approaches increasingly used to deal with both climate and health emergencies are failing to protect those most vulnerable.
Conditionality
Commentary
Costa Rica resoundingly rejects IMF’s 'austericidal' recipe
Alternative progressive solutions reached by democratic and inclusive multi-sectoral dialogue.
IFI governance
Analysis
Biden, the Bank and IMF: A break with ‘America first’ or its continued pursuit through multilateral means?
The world awaits to see whether Trump’s defeat will result in the end of the 'America First' approach and a democratisation of the IMF and World Bank and the multilateral system.
Finance
News
IMF's continued VAT push inconsistent with rhetoric on progressive taxes
As the IMF celebrates the rise of VAT, women and those least able to pay are left behind in worsening inequality crisis.
IFI governance
Analysis
Development Committee communiqué analysis – Annual Meetings 2020
Analysis of the Development Committee communiqué published on 16 October from the 2020 World Bank and IMF virtual Annual Meetings.
Accountability
News
Delays in Inspection Panel eligibility decision in Nepal risk “irreversible damage”
Panel yet to rule on case filed in April despite receiving consultant's report.
Conditionality
News
Pakistan resists IMF measures that could “push more people into poverty”
IMF programme would result in increased electricity prices and regressive consumer tax hikes amid rising cost of living.