BWI Annual Meetings 2021: Political games while the world burns

Earlier in October, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) met for their Annual Meetings, a moment in which their leadership was tested. With the Doing Business Report scandal turning into the elephant in the room, the Annual Meetings provided important insights into how US politics and geopolitics have a greater impact on the Bretton Woods Institutions, than the debt and climate crises, interest rate increases and growing inequality. As a result, business as usual - notably the so-called Wall Street Consensus - prevailed over the need for genuine reform to address critical governance and ethical issues in the World Bank. While the debt crisis appears to have become yesterday's news, and the Group of 20 (G20) is not even trying anymore to provide any meaningful answers, the IMF is eager to raise its profile in the context of the recovery from the pandemic. The next months will certainly bring more clarity to what all this means for countries from the global south and the most vulnerable.

This blog is organised in three parts, as it deals with the WB’s Doing Business Report scandal, and beyond (1), allocation of rich countries unused Special Drawing Rights (2) and the debt crisis (3).

1: https://www.eurodad.org/political_games_while_the_world_burns_1

2: https://www.eurodad.org/political_games_while_the_world_burns_2

3: https://www.eurodad.org/political_games_while_the_world_burns_3