(Washington) Income inequality has increased in more than 60% of countries currently under aid programs from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), sometimes reaching United Nations alert thresholds, according to a report published Monday by the NGO Oxfam.
According to the report, 64 of the 106 countries currently assisted by international financial institutions (IFIs) have seen their inequality increase significantly, being even particularly high in around forty of them, including Ghana, Honduras and Mozambique.
“The IMF and the WB present the fight against inequality as a priority, but at the same time support policies that increase it. Ordinary people suffer more and more from budget cuts in health, education and transport. This high level of hypocrisy must end,” Oxfam head in Washington, Kate Donald, said in a statement.
Even more, the increase in public debt, particularly due to the rise in interest rates, further reduces the capacity of these countries to properly finance health, education or the social protections necessary to reduce inequalities. .
However, “the agreement signed by the WB aimed at reducing inequalities, a first in 80 years, is a historic decision. But if the Bank really wants to act in this area, the first test will be to make it a priority for its loans to the poorest countries,” added Ms.me Donald.
Helping developing countries, particularly those currently in or at risk of debt crises, will be one of the main topics discussed at the annual meetings of the IMF and the WB , which will take place all week in Washington.
The public spending necessary to support economies in the face of the pandemic and then the shocks caused by global inflation or even the war in Ukraine have pushed States to go into debt, at a time when interest rates have risen, under the impetus from the central banks of the main economies, struggling with inflation.
A cocktail which has significantly increased debt service in certain countries, unable to meet their deadlines, which sometimes take up more than half of their budget.
The IMF regularly emphasizes, during its programs, the need for governments to protect the most vulnerable groups within their populations, while for its part the primary mission of the World Bank remains to end poverty in the world. world.