Session Abstract: The session presented a trade union global survey report on IMF impact on social policy, examining the implementation of the IMF’s 2019 social spending strategy, as well as the study End Austerity: A Global Report on Budget Cuts and Harmful Social Reforms in 2022-25 by IPD and CSOs, exposing the negative social impacts of austerity and the tensions between fiscal consolidation and development goals. Panelists explored alternative approaches, including nine financing options available to governments to avoid austerity and prioritize the poor, the working class and the middle classes, reducing inequality and promoting social cohesion.
Moderator: Cathy Feingold, Deputy President, ITUC
Panelist 1: Isabel Ortiz, Director, Global Social Justice, IPD
Panelist 2: Isabel Guzmán, Deputy General Secretary for Convergencia Sindical Panamá
Panelist 3: Nabil Abdo, Senior Policy Advisor, Oxfam International
Panelist 4: Mauricio Soto, Deputy Division Chief, IMF
Co-Organizers: International Confederation of Trade Unions (ITUC); Global Social Justice Program IPD; Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF); MENA Fem Movement for Economic, Development, and Ecological Justice; Human Rights Watch (HRW); Arab Reform Initiative (ARI); Gender Action; Akina Mama wa Afrika; Phenix Center for Economic Studies; SEATINI-U; Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER); ActionAid; Bretton Woods Project (BWP): Arab Watch Coalition (AWC); the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND).