Austerity/Structural Adjustment

Economic policies imposed by the IMF in exchange of new loans or the rescheduling of old loans.

Structural Adjustments policies were enforced in the early 1980 to qualify countries for new loans or for debt rescheduling by the IMF and the World Bank. The requested kind of adjustment aims at ensuring that the country can again service its external debt. Structural adjustment usually combines the following elements : devaluation of the national currency (in order to bring down the prices of exported goods and attract strong currencies), rise in interest rates (in order to attract international capital), reduction of public expenditure (’streamlining’ of public services staff, reduction of budgets devoted to education and the health sector, etc.), massive privatisations, reduction of public subsidies to some companies or products, freezing of salaries (to avoid inflation as a consequence of deflation). These SAPs have not only substantially contributed to higher and higher levels of indebtedness in the affected countries ; they have simultaneously led to higher prices (because of a high VAT rate and of the free market prices) and to a dramatic fall in the income of local populations (as a consequence of rising unemployment and of the dismantling of public services, among other factors).

How Austerity Helped to Ignite Greece’s Historic Wildfires

22 August 2021 - by Stelios Foteinopoulos

If Ferdinand Lassalle lived today, he would be able to watch his ideas age badly. In 1862, Lassalle, speaking to a socialist gathering in Berlin, outlined his theory of the night-watchman state – a neoliberal concept whereby the state transfers (...)
What kind of austerity after the Covid crisis?

9 July 2021 - by Eva Betavatzi

The present circumstances seem to rule out – for a time – using public debt considered to be excessive as a pretext for drastic austerity measures. The illusion of having escaped the vicious circle of debt to austerity is reinforced by the (...)
IMF and debt: a new consensus?

16 April 2021 - by Michael Roberts

There is much talk among ‘progressive’ economists that the IMF and the World Bank have turned over a new leaf. Gone are the days of supporting fiscal austerity, demanding that national governments get public debt levels down and insisting on (...)
Migrant Women Are Holding Society Together During This Pandemic

14 April 2021 - by Taroa Zuñiga Silva

The past year has seen several lockdowns as a result of the pandemic, which have had a deep impact on education, employment and the way we work globally. These factors have had an especially stark effect on women. For more than 168 million (...)
Complicity of International Financial Institutions in Violation of Human Rights in the Context of Economic Reforms

30 November 2020 - by Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

This Article demonstrates that the introduction of austerity measures does not contribute to economic recovery, but instead has negative consequences in terms of economic growth, debt ratios, and equality, and routinely results in a series of (...)
Series: 1944-2020, 76 years of interference from the World Bank and the IMF (Part 25)

The IMF and the World Bank in the time of Coronavirus: the failed campaign for a new image

9 November 2020 - by Eric Toussaint, Emilie Paumard, Milan Rivié

Considering the economic and social tragedy resulting from the structural adjustment policies (SAP) imposed on people in the South from the 1990s onward, several voices have exposed the promoters of such policies, namely the IMF and the World (...)
Agro-imperialism in the time of Covid-19

16 July 2020 - by GRAIN

Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, is known for scandal. It earned the nickname “babykiller” in the 1970s for causing infant illness and death in low-income communities by promoting bottle feeding of its infant formula and discouraging breast (...)
Capitulating to adults

31 May 2020 - by Michael Roberts

During the pandemic lockdown, I have been able to read a range of new economics books, some Marxist but most not. It seems that many leading economists have published new stuff in the last two months. Over the next few weeks, I shall post some (...)
Argentina

Voluntary Termination of Debt

18 May 2020 - by Verónica Gago, Luci Cavallero

The feminist movement in Argentina, and across Latin America, has gained force and strength in recent years. That movement can be characterized not only by its massiveness in terms of the number of people on the streets, but also for how it has (...)
The debt dilemma

11 May 2020 - by Michael Roberts

I have mentioned many times on this blog that rising global debt reduces the ability of capitalist economies to avoid slumps and find quick way to recover (and see ‘Debt Matters’ in my book, The Long Depression and also in World in Crisis). As (...)
Cancel the debt so doctors and nurses can keep saving lives

7 May 2020 - by Collective

A call for urgent action to support doctors and nurses on the frontlines of the Coronavirus pandemic. We are all health workers, nurses, doctors. Every day we are on the frontline fighting this virus. Every day we are on the wards, in the (...)
Now more than ever, supporting abolition of the debt is a priority!

5 May 2020 - by Brigitte Marti

The covid 19 pandemic has demonstrated that the neoliberal system that leads the world is detrimental to health care systems, public services, and bad for people, especially for the poor and third world populations. We should remind the (...)
The scarring

4 May 2020 - by Michael Roberts

Optimism reigns in global stock markets, particularly in the US. After falling around 30% when the lockdowns to contain COVID-19 virus pandemic were imposed, the US stock market has jumped back 30% in April. Why? Well, for two reasons. The (...)
End the inhumane migratory policies of Fortress Europe

23 April 2020 - by ReCommons Europe

Today we publish the third text of the publication entitled “The impact on the South of European financial policies and development cooperation strategies and possible alternatives”, elaborated in the framework of the ReCommonsEurope project. (...)
World Bank and IMF response to debt crisis undermines women’s rights

10 April 2020 - by Iolanda Fresnillo, Verónica Serafini

Summary Debt crisis continues to unfold in the Global South IMF and World Bank responses cling to austerity and privatisation New gender-sensitive debt resolution framework needed A new debt crisis is unfolding, once again, in the Global (...)
Abolish illegitimate and odious claims by European countries from third parties and give absolute priority to human rights

3 April 2020 - by ReCommons Europe

Phase 2 of the ReCommonsEurope project: “The impact of European financial policies and development cooperation strategies on the South and possible alternatives”. This document is the first of the five texts that form part of the publication (...)
Call of the indigenous peoples, afro-descendants and peoples’ organizations of Latin America

3 April 2020 - by CADTM, Collective

We publish in English a Latin American and Caribbean appeal launched on 1 April 2020 by a large number of popular movements and political organizations. It calls for a radical response to the crisis linked to COVID-19. This call is supported by (...)
Latin America and the outbreak of COVID-19: a chronicle of multiple crises

31 March 2020 - by María Romero

By María José Romero (Eurodad), Jasmine Gideon (Birkbeck, University of London), Patricia Miranda and Verónica Serafini (Latindadd) The outbreak of COVID-19 is a global health emergency that is likely to trigger a global economic crisis, (...)
Fighting Coronavirus: It’s Time to Invest in Universal Public Health

26 March 2020 - by Isabel Ortiz, Thomas Stubbs

NEW YORK and LONDON, Mar 23 2020 (IPS) - Austerity policies pushed by international financial institutions have weakened public health systems, despite current financial support packages, condemning many people to die. As health systems of (...)
IMF: Inhuman at the micro and macro levels

27 February 2020 - by Eric Toussaint

Hiruni, a fisherman’s wife, who has to manage her household (of five people) with an income of about 2.5 euros (= 500 Sri Lankan rupees) per day, is heavily indebted. In order to increase her household income, she borrowed 50,000 rupees (250 (...)
IMF and World Bank complicit in ‘austerity as new normal’, despite availability of alternatives

12 February 2020 - by Bretton Woods Project

Summary Austerity projected to affect 5.8 billion people by 2021 UN offers handbook on alternative financing options IMF and World Bank continue to cling to unnecessary and harmful fiscal orthodoxy In October, a report by Matthew Cummins (...)
The People of Colombia Are Cracking Up the Walls of War and Authoritarianism

20 January 2020 - by Justin Podur

The protests that started with the national strike called by Colombia’s central union on November 21 to protest pension reforms and the broken promises of the peace accords have persisted for two months and grown into a protest against the whole (...)
The accomplices to austerity are also responsible for human rights violations

21 November 2019 - by Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

The question is not whether austerity plays a role in violating human rights but how big a role it plays: how much of an impact it has on indicators such as mortality rates, employment, equality, health, housing and levels of violence. (...)
Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay

24 October 2019 - by Jerome Roos, George Souvlis

Debt-stricken countries like Greece have continued repaying their creditors even though it’s hammering workers’ living standards. They should stick it to the banks and default instead. The European debt crisis that began a decade ago has offered (...)
Financial institutions complicit in impact of austerity measures on human rights, says UN expert

10 September 2019 - by Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

GENEVA (10 September 2019) – Austerity measures imposed by international financial institutions such as the IMF, regularly cause violations of human rights, says UN Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky in a (...)