By Rebecca Ray For many years, researchers have debated the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) use of austerity, or required fiscal budget tightening: how common it is, which borrowers receive such requirements, whether IMF practice has changed after successive financial crises, and what impacts such austerity has had. Two new working papers from the Boston University […]
By Luma Ramos The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a multilateral organization that seeks global financial stability and monetary cooperation. It has three core activities: surveillance, technical assistance, and emergency lending. Surveillance is understood as overseeing the international monetary and financial system and monitoring the economic and financial policies of its 190 member countries. The IMF’s […]
In offering loans to developing countries in exchange for policy reforms, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) typically sets the fiscal parameters within which development occurs. Among the drivers of socio-economic development, a new working paper focuses on an important, yet insufficiently understood, international-level determinant: the spread of austerity policies to the developing world by the […]
Climate and environmental breakdown demand urgent and coordinated action across borders. Such action requires new global norms and rules that allow national autonomy while converging toward shared goals to deliver rising living standards for all people without further damaging our ecosystems. This will only happen by confronting and contesting the furies of hyper-globalization: the beneficiaries […]
Promoting stability on a global scale is a core component of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s mandate, and the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the financial stability of nearly every country, with associated losses likely to surpass the 2008-09 Global Financial Crisis. Senior IMF officials have since called for “exceptional action” to […]
Free trade agreements (FTAs) are often signed by the developing countries in the hope of increasing their market access, improving their balance of trade (BOT) and reviving their economic growth by generating additional output and employment in their countries. However, if FTAs worsen the BOT or net exports, they can adversely impact Gross Domestic Product […]
The 65th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is currently taking place from March 15-26, 2021. Established in 1946, the CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. During the Commission’s annual two-week session, representatives of UN Member States, […]
As the only global institution tasked with preventing and mitigating global financial instability, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been called upon to play a crucial role in combatting the effects of two simultaneous crises: COVID-19 and climate change. Since the inception of the crisis, the IMF has provided strong global thought leadership in stressing […]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs to rapidly, but carefully, devise a climate change strategy that helps countries meet their collective climate change goals in a manner that enhances stability, equity, growth, and sustainable development. A top priority for IMF reform will be to align the IMF’s core surveillance functions with climate ambition. To this […]
By Katie Gallogly-Swan After much anticipation of the post-Trump era of international cooperation on the multiple crises the world is facing, the meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) on February 26th took place with little fanfare, but notable progress. Mantras of the importance of multilateralism and cooperation were roundly repeated, […]