On February 2nd 2011 civil society organisations held a meeting with the UK Executive Director to the World Bank and staff from the Department for International Development to discuss the formation of the new Green Climate Fund, the World Bank energy startegy review, and the role of the private sector in World Bank lending.
Debt
Finance
News
Gold sales: funding debt relief or IMF bureaucracy?
Preliminary IMF board discussions on the use of excess money generated through gold sales are awaited before the Fund’s spring meetings in mid April. Gold sales were completed in late December 2010, at a time of historically high gold prices, providing the Fund windfall profits of at least $2.8 billion more than projected in 2008 when the decision for gold sales was taken.
Finance
News
South Sudan: saddled with IFI debt?
With South Sudan set to become the world's newest - and potentially poorest - country in July, a big question remains about what should be done with Khartoum's $37.8 billion foreign debt, including around $1.6 billion owed to the IMF and $600 million to the World Bank.
Rights
News
IMF serious about measuring conditionality impacts?
More criticism emerged of IMF programmes as it begins the process of another conditionality review. Political upheaval in Ireland and continued protests in Greece are focussing attention on the IMF's controversial economic policy advice.
Conditionality
Commentary
Repaying bondholders while immiserating people: Ireland’s EU-IMF programme
Partly as a result of the failures of successive Irish governments, Irish people are now confronted with the same anti-democratic and immiserising consequences the IMF has imposed around the rest of the world. Opposition to the EU-IMF intervention, and to the Irish government's cutbacks (including cuts in the minimum wage and social welfare), must demand a default on bank debt and not just a reorganisation of which sectors of Irish society should bear the cost of debt repayments.
Finance
News
Argentina wins Paris Club talks without IMF
In mid November, Argentina got the green light from rich countries, grouped together in the so-called Paris Club, to negotiate repayment of about $7.5 billion in defaulted debt without IMF oversight.
Conditionality
News
Pakistan: IMF pushes regressive taxes
In November, Pakistan and the IMF again failed to agree conditions for release of the sixth instalment of the country's Stand-by Agreement.
Conditionality
News
IMF economics put recovery at risk (not to mention people)
Amid slowing global economic growth the IMF welcomed fiscal consolidation, despite warnings that in Europe and in developing countries austerity policies and consumption taxes are threatening recovery and harming the most vulnerable.
Finance
News
Venezuela disputes IMF growth predictions
Venezuela's Central Bank said in November that the country should begin to pull out of recession with 2 per cent growth predicted for 2011, four times more than the IMF suggested.
Conditionality
Background
Civil Society Townhall Meeting with Robert Zoellick and Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Notes of the seminar of annual meetings 2010
Featured briefings
16 October 2024
The Bretton Woods Observer: Autumn 2024
16 October 2024
The lost call for international financial architecture reform in the G20
At the 80th anniversary of the World Bank and IMF, global civil society must maintain pressure on the Brazilian and South African G20 presidencies to ensure the forth Financing for Development Conference in 2025 results in urgently required international financial architecture reform.
16 October 2024
Sustainable development requires sustainable finance: why local currency financing is part of the solution
Multilateral development banks can reduce their dependence on hard currency lending and make local currency financing a central element of their developmental mandate.