International Monetary Fund

Following the abuses revealed in the Panama Papers, world leaders attending the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund this week must seize the moment to take decisive action and help end the era of tax havens, said Oxfam today.

Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, and Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, spoke Tuesday about their institutions’ priorities ahead of next week’s spring meetings in Washington. 

Oxfam applauds today’s report by the International Monetary Fund, which argues that tackling gender inequality is not only an objective in itself, it's a key part of reducing the huge wealth gap between the rich and the poor.

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. 

Fighting inequality is not just an issue of fairness but an economic necessity. That’s not Oxfam speaking, but the International Monetary Fund today. 

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."

Following Oxfam’s January report revealing that just 85 people owned the same wealth as the bottom half the world’s population, Forbes has updated its “billionaires' list”, showing that extreme inequality has worsened– just 67 people at the top now own half the wealth.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund need to ditch the ‘trickle down’ economics of the past and lead the fight against inequality if they are serious about the new target to end extreme poverty by 2030.

The World Bank and IMF must step up their support for developing countries who are struggling with spiking food prices along with the fallout from Europe’s fiscal crisis, Oxfam said ahead of the annual meeting of the institutions in Tokyo this week.

Incoming World Bank president Jim Yong Kim must step up efforts to assist developing countries threatened by the euro zone crisis fallout, international agency Oxfam said ahead of his first day on the job.