IMF

Over a quarter of a billion more people could crash into extreme levels of poverty in 2022 because of COVID-19, rising global inequality and the shock of food price rises supercharged by the war in Ukraine, reveals a new Oxfam brief today. 

“People have become complacent about COVID-19. Our global (health) funds are fast running out of money. Vaccine inequity is getting worse,” said former UK prime minister Gordon Brown today. 

The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) gave its approval today to set up a new IMF-administered Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) that will allow wealthy nations to channel some of their Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to more vulnerable countries. In response, Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said: “While it is positive that the RST will be accessible to a wide range of countries, including vulnerable middle-income countries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital that the IMF deliver these funds on terms that are as close to grants as possible."

West African governments are planning to “slash and burn” their way out of COVID-19 induced economic loss, reveals new analysis from Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) today. The organizations are calling for an urgent change of course as West African governments are preparing their annual budgets and participating in the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, which are crucial discussions to focus the recovery on fighting inequality and poverty.

Responding to the IMF Board of Governors’ approval of a Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation of $650 billion, Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said: “New SDRs will bring much-needed liquidity to struggling developing countries without adding to their unsustainable debt burdens. Now that this historic SDR issuance has been approved, governments must work transparently and together with civil society to ensure these resources are used to rescue collapsing health services and bolster social protection, and to deliver a fair and climate just recovery.
 

Responding to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s statement that the IMF Executive Board has approved her proposal for a $650 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDR), Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said: “We commend this decision by the IMF’s Executive Directors and urge swift approval by the Board of Governors. This debt-free financing is urgently needed by struggling economies still in the eye of the COVID-19 storm, and with a long road ahead.”

In response to the completion of the 2021 Comprehensive Surveillance Review today by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund, Nabil Abdo, Oxfam’s Senior Policy Advisor on International Financial Institutions, said: “This Review misses a crucial opportunity to require staff to advise countries on policies to tackle inequality or systematically assess the impacts on inequality of its own recommendations."

Rich countries must open the way to cheaper mass-produced COVID-19 vaccines in order to protect every person in the world and avert a $9 trillion “worst case” global economic catastrophe, said Oxfam today. They should also agree this week to inject $650 billion more into the global economy to help developing countries cope with the pandemic’s already devasting effects.

Responding to the publication of the Fiscal Monitor by the International Monetary Fund today, Susana Ruiz, Oxfam International's Tax Policy Lead, said: “Oxfam strongly welcomes the IMF’s call for progressive and emergency taxes to fund the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, including taxing excess corporate profits and top income levels.

Responding to the announcement that the G7 finance ministers will back a new allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said: "This explicit agreement from the G7 finance ministers to support a new significant injection of funds to countries in need around the world is extremely welcome news.