The benefits of the International Monetary Fund outweigh the harms
General
US Participation in the IMF: A Primer
*Pro
General economic growth
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?
IMF: COVID-19 ‘will erase 30 years of progress fighting poverty’ (2020)
Coronavirus crisis could tip 90 million into ‘extreme deprivation’, IMF warns (2020)
The pandemic will leave the poor further disadvantaged – IMF (2019)
Why Ghana is likely to go on needing the IMF – however difficult the relationship (2019)
Foreign investment
Urbanization
China crowd-out good
China’s new investment bank challenges US influence on global economics (2017)
US and China Tussle for Economic Influence in Africa (2015)
Global financial stability
- Information
- Emergency lending
- Post-COVID
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 countries establish the macroeconomic policies needed for a sustainable and equitable economic recovery and provide needed financial support. The IMF’s role is outsized in developing countries, where needs are likely to be greatest and the capacity to use their own fiscal and monetary tools will be limited.
Capitalism Good
Climate change assistance
Nations Must Promote Green Technology to Recover (2020)
IMF, World Bank to step up efforts against global climate risks (2021)
Investing in a Green Recovery (2021)
Helping the Poorest Tackle Climate Change WIll Boost Economic Growth (2021)
International Monetary Fund, pension funds and climate: The heat is on (2019)
Poverty Reduction
IMF encourages countries affected by COVID to keep spending on safety net (2020)
Turning back the Poverty Clock: How will COVID-19 impact the world’s poorest people? (2020)
Developing countries are sinking in a world awash in cash. Here’s what the US can do (2020)
*Con
Capitalism Bad
China crowd-out bad
(see links above)
Inequality
The IMF is hurting countries it claims to help (2019)
Structural Adjustment Bad
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (2018)
Report says IMF loans force spending cuts that exacerbate poverty (2020)
Over 80 per cent of IMF Covid-19 loans will push austerity on poor countries
Structural adjustment a major cause of poverty (2019)
How the IMF Keeps Sub-Saharan Africa in Poverty (2020)
Climate Answer
Campaigners confront IMF chief
Poverty Answers
Revisiting the Effects of IMF Programs on Poverty and Inequality (2013)
IMF Says it Cares About Income Inequality, But WIll it Change Its Ways?
COVID-19 further exposes inequalities in the financial system (2019)
Haiti’s deadly riots fueled by anger over decades of austerity and foreign interference (2017)
Why South Africa shouldn’t turn to the IMF for help (2017)
The IMF is showing some hypocrisy on inequality (2017)
Health
How years of IMF prescriptions have hurt West African health systems (2017)
Corruption