## It’s Unofficial!

_IMF Blog, October 12, 2014_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [It’s Unofficial!](https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2014/10/12/its-unofficial)

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Sabina Bhatia
- Published: October 12, 2014

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### 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*

---


## References

- [IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings](http://www.imf.org/external/am/2014/index.htm)
- [WEO](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2014/02/)
- [Ostry/Berg](http://blogs.imf.org/2014/02/26/treating-inequality-with-redistribution-is-the-cure-worse-than-the-disease/)
- [Gupta/Keen](http://blogs.imf.org/2014/03/19/meeting-rising-pressures-to-address-income-inequality-a-users-guide/)
- [panel](http://www.imf.org/external/mmedia/view.aspx?vid=3828227333001l)
- [paper](http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2014/pr14459.htm)
- [https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/15486862125_f64d775853_z.jpg](https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/15486862125_f64d775853_z.jpg)
- [IMF and the World Bank](http://www.imf.org/external/mmedia/view.aspx?vid=3830643908001)
- [panel](http://www.imf.org/external/mmedia/view.aspx?vid=3826536442001)
- [essays](http://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2014/imflima2015/youth/)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2014/10/12/its-unofficial_