Search Results for: imf

Accountability

News

14 September 2011

Scandals threaten IFI governance

With the new IMF head and a Bank’s managing director under judicial investigation, questions continue to be asked about IFI governance, while implementation of existing reforms remains slow.

Environment

News

13 September 2011

World Bank pushing dirty coal and massive hydro

The Bank's energy projects in Kosovo and India are being lambasted by critics for threatening livelihoods and the environment.

Social services

News

13 September 2011

Bondholders vs the public: Outcry over IMF-EU eurozone loans

The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone, where Greece now needs a second round of loans, threatens major economies like Spain and Italy, but IMF-backed lending packages that demand deep austerity with insufficient attention to lenders' responsibilities anger the public.

Land

News

13 September 2011

World Bank deaf on food speculation, vocal on financial instruments

As agricultural market continue to experience increasing volatility, and record food prices intensify global hunger and poverty, the World Bank's approach to the crisis, which emphasises the use of commodities markets and corporate agriculture, is found wanting by groups demanding food sovereignty and food security.

Conditionality

News

13 September 2011

IMF advice accused of risking new recession

Since the financial crisis, the IMF's rhetoric has tried to be nuanced about austerity policies and the need to stimulate growth, but critics says its actions risk pushing the world back into recession and hurting workers.

Environment

Commentary

14 June 2011 | Guest comment

World Bank's Africa strategy remains rutted in comfort zone

A critical analysis of the World Bank's new strategy for Africa

Social services

News

13 June 2011

Rehash of failed policies for Arab states?

As revolutionary movements sweep the Arab world, the World Bank and the IMF have taken a lead in international economic engagement in the Middle East and North Africa region. But critics have warned of the dangers of locking transitional governments into long-term loans with economic conditionalities that may perpetuate the flawed development model that contributed to the crisis in the first place.

Finance

News

13 June 2011

IMF paper finds lobbying contributed to financial crisis

In May, three IMF staffers published a working paper with National Bureau of Economic Research,, A Fistful of Dollars: Lobbying and the Financial Crisis, pointing out the role of lobbying by financial firms for lax regulation which directly led to the 2008 subprime crisis.

Finance

News

13 June 2011

Aid to Afghanistan, Malawi suspended on IMF decision

International donors including USAID and UK DFID have halted aid to Afghanistan following the IMF's suspension of funds in February.

Rights

News

13 June 2011

IMF's European austerity drive goes on

The IMF programme in Portugal highlights the heavy conditionality attached to loans. Meanwhile, a big, and very public, fight is brewing over debt in Greece, where the IMF denies any problems.

Conditionality

News

13 June 2011

IMF agrees new reserve adequacy metrics

In early March, the IMF board agreed to the use of new ways of measuring whether a country's foreign exchange reserve were adequate.