Over 60 per cent of low-income countries and more than 25 percent of emerging market economies are in or at risk of debt distress, and are in danger of being unable to fulfil their fiscal obligations.
Poverty analysis
Knowledge
News
Banking on human capital: Beware unspecified returns
As World Bank prepares to launch its Human Capital Index at the upcoming Annual Meetings in Indonesia, long-standing critiques of Human Capital Theory remain.
Knowledge
Analysis
IEG critical of World Bank’s progress on shared prosperity goal
IEG report casts doubt on Bank’s progress on its own shared prosperity goal as civil society raises concerns about Bank's approach to inclusive growth
Knowledge
Analysis
Chinese growth’s contribution to poverty reduction challenges World Bank and IMF neoliberal policies
CEPR report found that two-thirds of extreme poverty during past 25 years took place in China, which did not follow World Bank and IMF neoliberal policies.
Knowledge
Analysis
The World Bank's updated international poverty line, a case of poor measurement?
World Bank updates the International Poverty Line and claims a continued decrease in numbers of poor, but long-standing questions about the methodology used and whether the instrument is fit for purpose persist.
Social services
Analysis
PPPs as a model for development: An analysis of the African context
Public-private partnerships are pushed in Africa, but the risks and costs must be fully understood and minimised, including the impact on the poor.
Knowledge
Background
Lurking behind plummeting oil prices: Advancing structural adjustment
Notes from a meeting at the IMF/World Bank CSO Forum at the 2015 Annual meetings, focusing on macroeconomic challenges for the MENA region.
Knowledge
News
Who’s poor? New estimates of PPPs led to halving of World Bank’s poverty numbers
A May World Bank-led statistical operation has used a new method to estimate purchasing power parities, allowing it to more than halve the estimated number of people living on below $1.25 per day.
Rights
Analysis
The IMF’s chameleon-policies on unions are changing colours
New IMF research has shown the positive impact of trade unions have on reducing income inequality, however, the Fund's own European austerity programmes indicate that the IMF ignores its own evidence.
Conditionality
Commentary
The Arab world’s subsidy nightmare: pondering alternatives
For decades, the Arab region has embarked on a series of IMF-prescribed energy subsidy reforms, which have contributed to increased poverty levels.
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.