By Marilou Uy and Rishikesh Ram Bhandary Policymakers, especially from the Global South, now agree that achieving both climate goals and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals will require reforming the international financial architecture. While the World Bank’s ‘evolution’ process that kickstarted at the 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Annual Meetings reflects a […]
With just six years until 2030, there is an urgent need to unlock investments and mobilize affordable climate finance in a fiscally sound and financially stable manner. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a vital role to play, and proposals to reform the international financial architecture – whether the Bridgetown Initiative, the Paris Pact for […]
By Rishikesh Ram Bhandary and Tim Hirschel-Burns The importance of debt sustainability has come to the fore as countries around the world grapple with high debt burdens, which are capacity of governments to invest in climate action, and high costs of borrowing, even after the recent lowering of the interest rate by the US Federal […]
Developing countries need to invest heavily to transform their economies to achieve sustainable development and address climate change, but they are falling behind in the shift to clean energy, enhancing adaptation and resilience, addressing loss and damage, and restoring nature. To meet these policy goals, debt sustainability analyses (DSAs) conducted by the International Monetary Fund […]
By Akanksha Goyal The Think20 (T20) is an engagement group of the Group of 20 (G20) that seeks to convene think tanks and research centers from G20 members, guest countries and organizations in order to provide evidence-based research to support policymaker decisions in the G20. As a busy fall policy season kicks off this month […]
By Daniel Bradlow, Marina Zucker-Marques and Kevin P. Gallagher Many developing countries are experiencing what the World Bank has termed the “silent” sovereign debt crisis. It is silent because the international community has seemingly been hoping the creeping crisis will resolve itself on its own without ambitious intervention. Fifty-four countries are spending more than 10 […]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) levies surcharges, or extra fees, on member countries that either draw “substantial” amounts of IMF credit to mitigate the balance of payments constraints or maintain their credit exposure with the institution for sufficiently long periods. Reportedly designed to discourage the overuse of Fund resources and ensure the IMF’s financial soundness, […]
It is now widely recognized that emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) excluding China need to mobilize $3 trillion annually – $1 trillion from external sources and $2 trillion domestically – by 2030 to meet shared climate and development goals. These investments are not only essential to avoiding the relative catastrophic economic, social and environmental […]
By Samantha Igo On Tuesday, July 30, the Boston University Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center) hosted a webinar titled, “Are We Out of the (Bretton) Woods Yet? The International Financial Architecture 80 Years On.” The discussion reflected on 80 years of the Bretton Woods institutions, citing a new flagship report that synthesizes the GDP […]
By Tim Hirschel-Burns In July 1944—80 years ago—delegates from 44 nations met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Over the course of three weeks, they designed an agreement that led to the establishment of the Bretton Woods institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which was later joined […]