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The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could push half a billion more people into poverty unless urgent action is taken to bail out developing countries, said Oxfam today.

The International Finance Corporation has little accountability for billions of dollars’ worth of investments into banks, hedge funds and other financial intermediaries, resulting in projects that are causing human rights abuses around the world.

Rich and poor countries alike have exacerbated an explosion of economic inequality since the outbreak of the pandemic from 2020, reveals new research by Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI). 

The Covid-19 pandemic will not be defeated unless it’s defeated in all countries. In developing countries, where public health spending is often severely constrained, significant debt cancellation will be necessary to deal with the double whammy of health and economic crises.

In response to the selection today of Ajay Banga as President of the World Bank for a five-year term beginning 2 June, Katie Malouf-Bous, interim Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said: "The true test of Ajay Banga starts now: to reorient the World Bank to tackle the extreme inequality that robs billions of people of economic security and dignity. We need huge new investments in development but we need them to be publicly-led and purposed to lift people out of poverty —and we need guardrails around private finance that has run riot for too long."

Oxfam welcomes today’s announcement by the World Bank Group on a new Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition before the UN Climate Summit in New York. The Summit is meant to build political momentum towards a post-2020 climate agreement in Paris in 2015, with governments on the hook to make meaningful commitments to reduce their emissions and to deliver climate finance to the poorest, most vulnerable countries. Placing a…

World Economic Forum’s Human Capital Report demonstrates the need for a massive increase in funding for public education to close the growing gap between rich and poor and build a workforce that is fit for the future. 

The strategy to end extreme poverty and support inclusive growth is an important milestone for the World Bank and Oxfam welcomes Jim Kim’s vision and commitment.

Today marks an extraordinary gathering in New York of world leaders who have committed for the first time to take a stand together in the fight to promote inclusion and end extreme inequality.   An initiative led by Sweden alongside the 74th UN General Assembly, the gathering included heads of state and government from Sweden, Ethiopia, Spain, Sierra Leone, and Namibia; the Vice President of Indonesia, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, and the Foreign Minister of Timor-Leste; and representatives from Uruguay and Tunisia, with the support of the Republic of Korea.…

In a major new report, Oxfam calls for aid to be increased, better targeted, made more predictable and governed more accountably.