Seminar at the Spring meetings 2012, 19 April 12
Debt
Accountability
Background
UK civil society meeting UK IMF Executive Director Alex Gibbs
Notes of a meeting with UK executive director to the IMF Alex Gibbs in April 2012
Conditionality
News
Egypt to agree IMF loan despite opposition
Egypt's interim government announced in February that they expect to sign a $3.2 billion loan deal with the IMF and state-media reported that negotiations are underway for a $1 billion loan from the World Bank.
Conditionality
Analysis
IMF policy recommendations
IMF policy recommendations are often criticised for being too restrictive, procyclical and paying little attention to country-specific circumstances. In the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, the Fund showed some policy rethinking, bringing about expectations of change. However, Rathin Roy and Raquel A. Ramos of the UNDP Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth analyse IMF policy recommendations given to developing countries and conclude that headquarters' receptiveness to new approaches has not been trans
Land
Background
Notes of meeting between Stewart James, Alternate UK Executive Director to the World Bank, and NGOs
Civil society organisations met UK Executive Director to the World Bank and staff from the Department for International Development to discuss agriculture, land grabs, food security, the safeguards review process, the selection of the next World Bank president, the doing business indicators, and the debt sustainability framework.
Accountability
News
IMF loan to Egypt branded as "odious"
Social movement Popular Campaign to Drop Egypt's Debts has spoken out against Egypt's military government agreeing to a $3.2 billion IMF loan.
Finance
News
HIPC winds down amid controversy
The World Bank and IMF's joint Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is winding down as its objectives "have largely been reached".
Conditionality
News
IMF in a euromess?
The IMF responds to calls from European leaders to get more involved in the European debt crisis through greater lending to the region, however, the austerity policies being demanded are stoking further criticism from civil society organisations.
Social services
News
IMF's focus on austerity proved "wrong, wrong, wrong", say critics
While Christine Lagarde and staff at the Fund begin to acknowledge that too much austerity is risking jobs and growth and civil society groups call for an end to IFIs policy conditions, IMF programmes continue to promote fiscal retrenchment.
Accountability
News
IMF plays "second fiddle" as governments fall in the eurozone
As the eurozone debt crisis escalates and protests multiply, the IMF increasingly appears side-lined. Italy's calling in of the Fund for "verification" of implementation of its EU-agreed austerity package symbolises the limits of its influence and resources.
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