The benefits of the International Monetary Fund outweigh the harms

General US Participation in the IMF: A Primer *Pro General economic growth The effects of IMF programs on poverty, income inequality and social expenditure in low income countries: an empirical analysis (2020) The Effect of IMF Programmes on Economic Growth in Low Income Countries: An Empirical Analysis (2017) IMF bailouts — roads to stability or recipes for disaster? Corona...

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Some say neoliberals have destroyed the world, but now they want to save it. Is Scott Morrison listening?

The International Monetary Fund this week delivered a somewhat surprising message. It warned Earth was on course for “potentially catastrophic” damage under climate change, and called for green investment and carbon prices to put the global economy on a stronger, more sustainable footing. Of course, the message itself makes a lot of sense. The surprising part is that the IMF...

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Why Ghana is likely to go on needing the IMF – however difficult the relationship

Ghana has, since independence in 1957, regularly turned to the IMF for financial assistance Shutterstock   The relationship between Ghana and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is, to many Ghanaians, a difficult one. Most Ghanaians are of the view that the country should divorce itself from the international body. A look at sentiments expressed in statements by form...

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IMF bailouts — roads to stability or recipes for disaster?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been described as the lender of last resort for countries in financial distress. But the stiff medicine doled out by the fund is still subject to huge controversy. Following the ravages caused by World War II, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was originally established to allow countries with payment deficits to borrow money ...

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Fossil fuel subsidies need to go – but what about the poorer people who rely on cheap energy?

Almost all governments in the world joined the Paris agreement in 2015 in an effort to tackle climate change. In the same year, many of the same governments paid about US$400 billion in direct and indirect subsidies to help people buy fossil fuels. Subsidies are government policies which make energy cheaper than under normal market conditions. They mostly go towards fossil ...

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THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GLOBAL ENERGY DEMAND AND EMISSIONS

The deep COVID-19 crisis has resulted in the largest decline in global energy demand over the past 70 years. In the first quarter of 2020, it decreased by 3.8 percent relative to the first quarter of 2019. As a result, global CO2 emissions in 2020 are expected to fall to an unprecedented level of 8 percent (around 2.6 gigatons) relative to 2019. This would mark the lowest le...

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Campaigners confront IMF chief over green recovery contradictions

Analysis shows IMF advice to countries accessing Covid-19 emergency funds fails to systematically address climate risks and implicitly endorses fossil fuel subsidies IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva participates in a briefing with civil society during the fund’s annual meeting. (Photo: IMF Photo/ Cory Hancock/Flickr) Campaigners are calling on the Internati...

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How the IMF Keeps Sub-Sahara Africa in Poverty

Daniel J. Mitchell A couple of months ago, I thought I did something meaningful by sharing six separate examples of the International Monetary Fund pressuring sub-Saharan African nations to impose higher tax burdens. This was evidence, I suggested, that the IMF had a disturbing agenda of bigger government for the entire region. I didn’t imply the bureaucrats were motivated ...

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Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty

Debt is an efficient tool. It ensures access to other peoples’ raw materials and infrastructure on the cheapest possible terms. Dozens of countries must compete for shrinking export markets and can export only a limited range of products because of Northern protectionism and their lack of cash to invest in diversification. Market saturation ensues, reducing exporters’ incom...

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International Monetary Fund, pension funds and climate: The heat is on

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings over the past week saw continued focus on the climate crisis. The fund has previously discussed financial sector-focused solutions, putting out papers earlier this year mapping global ‘dirty energy’ subsidies and examining fiscal policies to deliver Paris Agreement commitments. The announcement that its monetary and capi...

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The pandemic is only a prelude to a looming climate crisis

This crisis is a rupture. A moment of profound turmoil and disruption. Even more than the 2008–09 global financial crisis—which was most directly felt in the United States and in European countries—this pandemic is affecting almost all of humanity. In countries around the world, rich and poor, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed the vulnerabilities of our health and social syste...

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International Monetary Fund

The IMF will have a critical role to play in the recovery from the economic and health crises brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its immediate role is to give countries the financial support they need to survive the crisis and minimize the short-term economic impact of the slowdown in global economic activity. As the immediate crisis subsides, the IMF will help countrie...

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The pandemic will leave the poor further disadvantaged – IMF

COVID-19 has resulted in a spike in unemployment across the world. Image: REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson IMF research shows that the inequality gap between rich and poor has widened after previous epidemics – and COVID-19 will be no different. The IMF says policymakers must put in place risk-sharing and social assistance mechanisms to protect the most vulnerable from future ...

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IMF: COVID-19 ‘will erase 30 years of progress fighting poverty’

Oscar Williams-Grut A daily wage laborer worker at a construction site in Uttar Pradesh, north India. The IMF said day labourers will be particularly vulnerable to falling into extreme poverty. Photo: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP The COVID-19 pandemic could reverse 30 years of progress made fighting global poverty, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. The IMF said on T...

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The Effect of IMF Programmes on Economic Growth in Low Income Countries: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract Using an LIC-specific participation model, we adopt a propensity score matching (PSM) methodology to compare economic growth performance in countries with and without IMF programmes over the period 1989–2008. Concessional programmes are found to have had a generally positive effect on economic growth for up to two years after agreements were signed. The effects are ...

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The effects of IMF programs on poverty, income inequality and social expenditure in low income countries: an empirical analysis

Graham Bird,Faryal Qayum ABSTRACT This paper examines the effect of IMF programs on poverty, income inequality and government expenditure on education and health. It distinguishes between non-concessional and concessional programs and examines the effect of contingent factors; program completion, IMF resources, the size of the initial economic problems and aid dependency...

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