Institute for Policy Studies
Online and 1301 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington D.C.
Oct 15, 2022
1:00 PM - 5:30 PM (GMT-4)
Host:
Arab Watch Coalition, CEPR, Eurodad, Latindadd, Bretton Woods Project, Christian Aid, IPS Global Economy Project, and Boston University's Global Development Policy Center
Please join us for this half-day hybrid event that will bring together organizations and individuals from around the world — including US Congressman Jesus “Chuy” García, Latindadd’s Patricia Miranda, economic historian Adam Tooze, former Argentinian finance minister Martín Guzmán, former Ecuadorian central bank director Andrés Araúz, and more — to discuss the urgent reforms of the IMF’s policies and governance structures needed to support an effective global response to the climate, inequality, food security, debt, and energy crises.
REGISTER HERE
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a pivotal role to play in the multilateral response to the global “poly-crisis” — from the uneven global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, to the food and energy crises triggered by the war in Ukraine. While the human rights, health, social and economic consequences of an international financial architecture dominated by the interests of high-income countries in the Global North and elite interests in the Global South have long been a topic of intense concern, recent events and their catastrophic impacts on the human rights and lives of billions of the world’s most marginalised populations have once again brought questions of global governance to the fore. The current economic and geopolitical dynamics are further stressing an already fragile multilateral order.
Session I: Deteriorating global conditions and the IMF: Toward immediate and adequate responses, 1:00-2:15pm
Session II: Strengthening multilateralism through IMF governance reforms, 2:15 - 3:15pm
Break, 3:15 - 3:45pm
Session III: Enhancing accountability at the IMF through the establishment of an independent accountability mechanism, 3:45 - 4:45pm
Session IV: What next? Civil society strategy session, 4:45 - 5:30pm
The event will feature interactive discussions by distinguished panelists and will focus on concrete proposals for action by the IMF. The event will close with a strategy-setting session among civil society groups.
Organized by: Arab Watch Coalition, Boston University Global Development Policy Center, Bretton Woods Project, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Christian Aid, Eurodad, Institute for Policy Studies Global Economy Project, and Latindadd
Panel descriptions:
Session I – 13:00 – 14:15
The IMF in deteriorating global conditions: Toward immediate and adequate responses
Panelists in this session will critically examine the IMF’s crisis response to date and consider urgent policy responses required to ensure it supports rather than hinders an equitable, just and enduring recovery from evolving crises.
Recognising that some necessary IMF governance reforms will take time, the session will focus on proposals for immediate policy responses from the IMF, including the immediate issuance of additional Special Drawing Rights and their periodic and regular allocation, as well as actions required to address the escalating debt crisis.
The session will be moderated by Politico economics reporter Victoria Guida, and will feature an interactive discussion and 15-minute Q&A with:
- United States Congressman Jesus “Chuy” García (IL-04)
- Adam Tooze, Director of Columbia University’s European Institute
- Andrés Arauz, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Policy and Economic Research (CEPR) and former Central Bank General Director of Ecuador
- Patricia Miranda, Advocacy Coordinator for the Latin American Network on Debt and Development (Latindadd)
Session II – 14:15 – 15:15
Strengthening multilateralism through IMF governance reforms
Agreeing with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s recent assessment that “strengthening multilateralism…is not a choice, but a necessity,” this session will explore reforms to IMF governance structures necessary to begin to address concerns about the legitimacy of the institution and international economic architecture more broadly.
The session’s panellists will consider the opportunities created by the upcoming review of the IMF quota formula to meaningfully address imbalances of power within the institution and longstanding concerns from under-represented countries in the Global South about the wider multilateral system. The broad consequences of the changes to the IMF’s quota formula will be discussed, by, for example, considering its implications for the issuance of SDRs, the IMF’s surcharges policy, and the Resilience and Sustainability Trust.
The session will be moderated by Thomson Reuters White House/Economics Correspondent Andrea Shalal, and will feature an interactive discussion and 15-minute Q&A with:
- Martín Guzmán, former Minister of Economy of Argentina
- Paulo Nogueira Batista, former Executive Director for Brazil at the IMF and former vice-president of the New Development Bank
- Lara Merling, Senior Policy Advisor at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center
Session III – 15:45 – 16:45
Enhancing accountability at the IMF through the establishment of an independent accountability mechanism
Whilst the lack of IMF accountability to people and communities negatively impacted by IMF policies and programmes is not new, the considerable expansion of the institution’s work areas to include climate, gender and inequality, underscores the need for the IMF to address its accountability gap.
This session will explore Pretoria University Centre for Human Rights Professor Daniel Bradlow’s proposal for the establishment of an independent accountability mechanism, akin to those of most multilateral development banks, at the IMF.
The session will be moderated by Coordinator of the Bretton Woods Project Luiz Vieira, and will feature an interactive discussion and 15-minute Q&A with:
- Abu Bakarr Kamara, Coordinator of the Budget Advocacy Network in Sierra Leone
- Professor Daniel Bradlow, Pretoria University Centre for Human Rights
- Margaux Day, Policy Director of the Accountability Counsel
Session IV – 16:45 – 17:30
What next? Civil society strategy session
Civil society organizers and attendees will discuss the learnings of the prior panels, and strategize together about how to achieve the urgent actions and necessary reforms outlined throughout the day.
