Share:The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was originally created to work with member nations to implement measures to ensure the stability of the international financial system and correct balance-of-payment maladjustments. The more the borrowing, the greater the need for still larger loans, and borrowing became something of an economic addiction. These involved the deregulation of trade protections, the ending of price controls and subsidies, export-led economic policies, privatisations and the ending of free healthcare and education. The theory was economic growth would ultimately trickle down, leading to poverty reduction. The neoliberal economic policies proposed in the Washington Consensus (American economic model) have since become pillars of bailout conditions enforced not only by the IMF, but also by its Washington-based offspring, the World Bank.

Source: The Nation November 26, 2021 08:11 UTC