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).

Zohran Mamdani, after his election as Mayor of New York on 5 November 2025: ‘New York will remain a city of immigrants: a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants.’

6 November 2025 - by CADTM, Zohran Mamdani

On Tuesday, November 5, 2025, Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election, securing one million votes and defeating Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic governor of New York State, who was backed by Donald Trump and the political (…)
Europe: For a different economic policy in response to the far right and Trump’s offensive

5 November 2025 - by Eric Toussaint, Antoine Larrache

Antoine Larrache: Could you provide an overview of the European Union’s economic situation in comparison to the global market? Éric Toussaint: The countries of the European Union, including the United Kingdom, are currently facing significant (…)
Austerity Policies Are Killing Children in Egypt

23 October 2025 - by MENAFEM

The tragic incident at “Linen Group textile” and furnishings company in Alexandria governorate, where an infant died in the arms of one of the company’s female workers after she was denied leave and confined inside the factory, is a stark (…)
Morocco’s Class War: From Hospital Deaths to a Fight for Justice

2 October 2025 - by Mohamed Al Banksi

A spark in Agadir — the tragic deaths of eight women, including several who were pregnant in a public hospital — has ignited a movement that goes beyond mere grief. For many, these deaths were not an unfortunate accident but a reflection of a (…)
Series: Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens (Part 13)

A critical review of the critical reviews of the book ’Adults in the Room’ by Yanis Varoufakis (Part 13)

25 July 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

We continue our series on Greece ten years after the first Syriza government took office in 2015. Below is an article by Éric Toussaint on different interpretations of the left-wing government’s failure, based on the account presented by Yanis (…)
Panama’s national strike, state repression and US imperial interests: An interview with union leader José Cambra

11 July 2025 - by José Cambra, Ben Radford

Large sections of Panama’s working class have been mobilising since April in nationwide strikes and protests against the José Raúl Mulino government. Teachers were the first to walk off and have maintained an indefinite national strike for more (…)
Series: Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens

Greece: Political and social timeline from 2015 to 2025 (Part 12)

4 July 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

2015: From Hope in Syriza to Surrender • 25 January 2015: Electoral victory of the radical left coalition (Syriza). For more information: CADTM press release See also: Greece needs a real cancellation of a big part of its debt and (…)
Series: Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens

Greece 2015: There was a viable alternative [Part 11]

24 June 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

In the first half of 2015, a wave of hope swept across Europe and resonated strongly in other parts of the world: for the first time in the 21st century, a radical left-wing party had been elected to government on a radical platform. The leader (…)
Greece: April to June 2015, towards the final capitulation

20 June 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

It is very important to take the time to analyze the policies put in place by Yanis Varoufakis and the Syriza government because, for the first time in the 21st century, a radical left-wing party was elected in Europe to form a government. Less (…)
Debt-dependency: What price are we paying?

11 June 2025 - by Rovik Obanil

Rovik Obanil, Secretary General of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) in the Philippines, presented an overview of the historical evolution of debt in the country, highlighting how debt-driven development policies have caused significant (…)
2025/26 Budget Statement: Budget 3.0 continues the anti-poor direction of the’ Government of National Unity’

24 May 2025 - by Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC)

The Alternative Information and Development Centre is convinced that the Budget tabled by Minister Enoch Godongwana will further impoverish South Africans, exacerbate unemployment and deepen the social crisis tearing our country apart. The (…)
Can pension systems be part of the fight for food sovereignty?

2 May 2025 - by GRAIN

On 31 March 2025, workers from all sectors in Belgium held a general strike that shut down much of the country. [1] Picket lines were formed in work places like petrochemical companies, ports, airports, supermarkets, hospitals and potato (…)
Series: Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens

Secret negotiations and dashed hopes [Part 9]

29 April 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

At the end of January 2025, the main leader of Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, became Prime Minister and appointed Yanis Varoufakis, a left-wing economist close to his party, as Finance Minister. It is very important to take the time to analyse the (…)
Series: Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens

The first capitulation of Tsipras and Varoufakis (Part 8)

19 April 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

At the end of January 2025, the main leader of Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, became Prime Minister and appointed Yanis Varoufakis, a left-wing economist close to his party, as Finance Minister. It is very important to take the time to analyse the (…)
Argentina: anarcho capitalism to austerity

16 April 2025 - by Michael Roberts

On Monday, the IMF announced that it had agreed to lend Argentina’s Milei government a further $20bn (on top of existing debts) to tide the government over in meeting its debt obligations and restoring its fast-falling foreign exchange reserves. (…)
Budget 2025: Playing A Bad Hand

31 March 2025 - by Balasingham Skanthakumar

1. Introduction ‘Budget 2025’ – delivered before parliament on 17 February by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) in his capacity as Minister of Finance and passed on 21 March – is the first concretisation of the economic agenda of the (…)
Series : Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens

A Negotiation Strategy Doomed to Fail [Part 6]

28 March 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

In this chapter we shall discuss the initial days of the Tsipras government, during which Yanis Varoufakis pursued his negotiation tactics with the European creditors. We shall see that this strategy was ill-fated because Varoufakis had decided (…)
Series Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens

Greece 2015: Varoufakis’s Advisers [Part 5]

18 March 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

It is instructive to look at the advisers Varoufakis surrounded himself with in 2015 as a member of Prime Minister Tsipras’ government. It’s no understatement to say that from the time he selected his principal advisers, Varoufakis called on (…)
Series : Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens

How Tsipras and Varoufakis’s turned their backs on Syriza’s platform [Part 4]

14 March 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

Yanis Varoufakis traces his collaboration with Alexis Tsipras and his alter ego, Nikos Pappas, back to 2011. That collaboration gradually broadened, starting with 2013, to include Yannis Dragasakis. There is a constant in the relations between (…)
Series : Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens

A questionable account by Varoufakis of the origins of the Greek crisis [Part 3]

10 March 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

In the previous article entitled ‘Greece 2015: Varoufakis’ proposals were doomed to fail’, I critically analysed the proposals made by Varoufakis before joining Tsipras’ government in January 2015, showing that they led to failure. This article (…)
Series Understanding what happened in Greece in 2015 when hope came from Athens

Greece 2015: Varoufakis’ proposals were doomed to fail [Part 2]

24 February 2025 - by Eric Toussaint

In his book Adults in the Room, Yanis Varoufakis gives his version of the events that led to the shameful capitulation of the government of Alexis Tsipras in July 2015. Essentially it analyses the period 2009–2015, though it makes incursions into (…)
Sri Lanka : IMF’s iron clasp, a maiden Budget and protecting the poor

22 February 2025 - by Niyanthini Kadirgamar

In his spirited Budget speech, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake described the priority for the first Budget of the NPP Government as thus: “Mass struggles and last year’s election saw people asserting their political rights. What is necessary (…)
Sri Lanka : Fiscal and Redistributive Reform: The Burden of Interest Costs

8 February 2025 - by Dhanusha Gihan Pathirana

Context The Sri Lankan government is currently facing a significant burden due to high interest costs on Treasury Bonds, which is severely constraining the fiscal space available for critical social protection programs. There is a valuable (…)
Sri Lanka

Budget 2025: Adjusting and adapting inside IMF prison

4 February 2025 - by Amali Wedagedara

The Budget 2025 illustrates the drudgery of making ends meet inside a debtors’ prison. The Appropriation Bill for Budget 2025 reveals the fiscal squeeze and constraints imposed by the IMF program and the struggle to set the economy on a (…)
Sri Lanka’s People Have Kicked Out the Old Political Class

25 November 2024 - by Balasingham Skanthakumar

The progressive alliance that backs Sri Lanka’s new president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, won a landslide victory in last week’s parliamentary election. The government has a clear mandate for change but now faces many obstacles to its reform (…)