Jubilee 2000 representatives held a South-South Summit in South Africa in late November.
Debt
Conditionality
News
IMF takes on poverty mandate
Important changes to the IMF’s remit in the poorest countries were announced at the IMF-WB Annual Meetings in September.
Finance
News
Ecological debt outweighs financial debt
The view that poor countries owe the rich millions of dollars in loan repayments is challenged by a Christian Aid report.
Conditionality
News
PNG Government avoids conditionality
Relations between the Bank and the government of Papua New Guinea were strained in July by the government’s decision to issue bonds to raise money from the private sector.
Finance
News
IMF policies fuel social crisis in Ecuador
In July, rising transport and fuel prices in Ecuador led to strikes and public protests, and an up-rising by thousands of indigenous people who are also concerned about privatisation plans.
Conditionality
News
Strikers in Colombia in protest at IMF and debt
In late August Colombian labour unions began an indefinite national strike in protest at the government’s political, social, and economic agenda and calling on the government to declare a moratorium on the payment of its internal and external debt.
Accountability
News
Politics before good policies in Zimbabwe
The IMF has agreed to lend US$7.32 bn to the Zimbabwean government despite continued concerns about corruption in the land reform process; the cost of supporting Zimbabwean troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); a planned privatisation of the Hwange power plant; and the reintroduction of price controls.
Finance
News
Africans to challenge Washington Consensus
African NGOs met in Nairobi in August to discuss and formulate an Africa Consensus on economic and social development to challenge the Washington Consensus.
Accountability
News
Curbing corruption
IMF policies have exacerbated corruption according to a Christian Aid briefing on new approaches to debt relief.
Finance
News
G7 agree crisis mechanisms
G7 finance ministers have agreed a framework to include the private sector in future crisis bailouts.