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, […]
In April 2022, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) established the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), its first lending facility to provide longer-term concessional financing to low- and middle-income countries to help tackle key structural challenges such as climate change and pandemic preparedness. The RST is resourced through voluntary re-channeling by Group of 20 (G20) countries […]
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 Akanksha Goyal The Boston University Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center) is pleased to present the 2024-2025 cohort of Global Economic Governance Fellows. These six outstanding scholars join the GDP Center from various backgrounds and universities, including the University of Oxford, American University and Syracuse University. They have completed or are completing doctoral degrees […]
At the upcoming 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan in November, parties are expected to agree on a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) to replace the $100 billion climate finance goal set in 2009. The $100 billion – in addition to being met two years late – left open significant questions […]
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 Rachel Thrasher The European Union officially voted to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) on May 30, after several years of increasing agitation over the role of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), a controversial legal tool in international investment agreements (IIAs) that fossil fuel companies can use when the value of their investments are […]
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 […]
July 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of the Bretton Woods Agreement that established the post-World War II multilateral economic order, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the precursor to the World Bank, and early global trade governance systems that provided the structure and form of the World Trade Organization (WTO), established in 1995. A new […]
By Jwala Rambarran This month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) marks its 80th anniversary amid various proposals on how to reform the global financial architecture to make it fit-for-purpose in the 21st century. Climate change poses a particular, and urgent, opportunity for reform. Many of the IMF’s developing country members are grappling with severe fiscal and […]