It’s Unofficial!
IMF Blog, October 12, 2014
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Sabina Bhatia
- Published: October 12, 2014
Overview
- Author: Sabina Bhatia
- Date: October 12, 2014
- Context: Reflections from the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, emphasizing the role of the non-official community (civil society organizations, members of parliament, academics, youth and labor groups).
Participation and engagement
- Over 600 civil society organizations, including members of parliament, academics, and several youth and labor groups, attended the meetings.
- Civil society deliberated on issues that mirror official debates: jobs, inequality, gender, sovereign debt, Ebola, and youth engagement.
Jobs and macroeconomic policy
- Central concern: persistent unemployment and "jobless recovery" in many parts of the world.
- Notable remarks:
- IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde: if the unemployed formed a country, they would be the world’s 5th largest country.
- ILO’s Guy Ryder: “a major policy effort is needed to reverse the slide into persistent low growth…the priority must be to lift aggregate global demand.”
- Policy support observed in corridors:
- Broad support for the IMF’s recommendations to increase public investment in infrastructure.
- Forward-looking commitment:
- The Fund will be operationalizing jobs into its work.
Inequality
- Inequality emerged frequently in civil society conversations and resonated with recent IMF work (Ostry/Berg and Gupta/Keen).
- Commentary:
- Justin Wolfers: “In the 1980s, the IMF was all about fiscal austerity—today, its focus on inequality marks an astonishing transformation.”
- Civil society calls:
- Oxfam and the ITUC urged the Fund to pay greater attention to country-level conditions and what is happening on the ground.
- Forward-looking commitment:
- The Fund will be operationalizing inequality into its work.
Gender and women in the workforce
- Key points:
- Ambassador Melanne Verveer: women face “a sticky floor, a glass ceiling, and lots of men in the middle.”
- Christine Lagarde: bringing more women into the workforce would be an “economic game changer.”
- Reaction:
- Many young women were surprised and heartened by the IMF’s emphasis on women in the workforce.
- Forward-looking commitment:
- The Fund will be operationalizing gender into its work.
Sovereign debt debate
- Topic prominence:
- Sovereign Debt was a hotly debated topic at the civil society forum.
- Context:
- The debate followed an IMF paper released the prior week on collective action clauses.
- Civil society perspective:
- Reminder that the IMF could not, and in fact should not, try to do everything.
- CIGI’s Brett House and Jubilee USA convened a panel debating the benefits of a statutory approach versus a contractual approach.
- Status:
- This remains an ongoing conversation.
Ebola and international response
- Tone:
- Ebola and its tragic toll lent a note of sadness to the Meetings.
- Actions and reactions:
- The IMF, the World Bank, and other donors met with leaders of the three affected countries and pledged international help.
- Many participants from the region urged the international community to step up efforts.
- Jeremy Lefroy, UK member of parliament, led a delegation of parliamentarians expressing similar concerns.
- IMF financing:
- The IMF provided additional and immediate financing of $130 million to the three affected countries.
Youth, innovation, and entrepreneurship
- Highlight:
- The participation of youth was described as the highpoint of the meetings.
- Panel on innovation and entrepreneurship:
- Five young men and women spoke about their dreams, aspirations, and pathways to success.
- Gulalai Ismail: “to assert change, the youth need to engage in the decision making process, but they also need good mentors to make a head start.”
- Youth essay contest:
- Winners of the Latin America youth essay contest were featured and their essays were highlighted as inspiring.
Notable external recognition
- Nobel Peace Prize announced during the week:
- Awarded to India's Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai for their struggles for young people's rights, including the right to education.
Looking ahead — key dates in 2015
- Civil society is focusing on three major events in 2015:
- The Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa in July.
- The High Level Stocktaking Event on the Post 2015 Development Agenda in New York in September.
- The Climate Summit in Paris in December.
- Quotation on 2015:
- Christine Lagarde: “2015 is shaping up to be a make or break year.”
Source: It’s Unofficial! — Sabina Bhatia, October 12, 2014
