In September US Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neill, told the Senate Banking Committee that he would favour establishment of an international bankruptcy law as an alternative to IMF bailouts.
Debt
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Finance
News
HIPC not delivering debt relief
The Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative is failing to deliver debt relief, reports the Financial Times (9/10/01).
Rights
News
IFIs must respect human rights
The World Bank and the IMF are bound by obligations enshrined in international human rights covenants, and must incorporate human rights considerations in the formulation and review of their Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs).
Finance
News
Will grants kill IDA?
Heated debate is brewing between the US government which proposes that the Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) should provide up to 50 per cent of its resources as grants and some European governments (supported by the Bank) who argue that to do so would deplete IDA’s resources.
Conditionality
News
Argentina to be sacrificed on free-market altar?
In August, Argentinian teachers, doctors and public workers went on strike and unemployed workers and students blocked roads to protest against rising unemployment and cuts in pensions and salaries.
Finance
News
African leaders speak out against donors
At a forum in Lagos Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo accused the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and creditor nations of being unfair to developing countries trying to repay crippling external debts, reports Reuters (17/5/01).
Finance
News
IMF and WB wanted for fraud
Protesters carrying placards proclaiming “Africa Needs Liberation Not Charity” and “the Debt is a Fraud” gathered outside World Bank offices in London on 26 May to mark African Liberation Day.
Finance
News
Reality check on debt
A new report from Drop the Debt argues that the World Bank and IMF can afford to cancel in full the debts of the poorest countries without putting at risk their finances.
Rights
News
Financial crises and global slowdown capture IMF-World Bank spring meetings agenda
The global economic slowdown and donor countries’ differing views on what to do about it, pushed issues related to the world’s poorest nations to the sidelines of public debate on this year’s spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
Finance
News
Social legacy of Indonesia’s crisis
A new pamphlet from UNICEF details the social legacy of Indonesia’s financial crisis.
Featured briefings
6 October 2022
World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings 2022
4 October 2022
The Bretton Woods Observer: Autumn 2022
4 October 2022
Monetary power and sovereign debt crises: The renewed case for a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism
The sovereign debt crises threatening states in the Global South are less about fiscal mismanagement and more about monetary power in the global currency hierarchy.