IMF

At the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF in Peru this week, moves to help combat inequality and climate change were announced, but G20 finance ministers failed to adequately address the skewed international tax system, said Oxfam today.

In a puzzling move, inequality was not on the agenda at the International Monetary Fund’s Press Briefing in the Peruvian capital today, while World Bank President Jim Kim said TPP could boost growth.

Ministers must deliver on their climate finance promises and support a second wave of attack on corporate tax cheats if their Lima meeting is to succeed, said Oxfam today. 

Oxfam is encouraged by World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim’s rejection of trickle-down economics and his clear stance on the enormous challenge inequality poses across the world. 

At the close of the 2015 Spring meetings, Oxfam reacts to the summary of the event.

Oxfam welcomes the World Bank's announcement to provide money to support the long term recovery of the three Ebola-affected countries. It is crucial that the world does not turn away once the Ebola crisis is brought under control if we are going to prevent outbreaks from striking again.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has yet again failed to profile his commitment to tackling climate change and inequality as central to his aim in eradicating poverty by 2030.

The World Bank and the IMF must seize their early chance in what could be a watershed year to end extreme global poverty by putting the battle against inequality, climate change and tax dodging at the very top of its Spring Meetings’ agenda this week. 

Nicolas Mombrial, Head of Oxfam’s Washington Office, said: “The IMF’s move will provide welcome relief to countries whose economies have been devastated by Ebola. But the IMF's step is not enough on its own – it needs to be the start of concerted global effort to help these countries."

'In terms of a plan to reduce extreme income inequality, we are left empty handed. There has been a lot of talk and a raw sketch of plan of action in the communique, but it’s just a drop in the bucket.”