Impact of Macroeconomic Policies on Health and Education: Julia Robinson
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Transcript of Impact of Macroeconomic Policies on Health and Education: Julia Robinson
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…or, just how DOES the IMF affect health policies in developing
countries?
Gold sales, wage bill caps, workforce shortages
Julia RobinsonHealth Alliance International
3 April 2009
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Wage ceilingsIMF writes conditions
into its loans restricting spending on certain sectors – namely education and health – in an effort to reduce deficits and inflationCenter for Global
Development report (2007) showed that half of all countries receiving IMF loans included wage bill ceilings
This, in turn, leads to…
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Workforce shortages!Artificially low budget ceilings mean that
countries cannot hire enough workers to adequately staff health sector
Problem compounded by countries facing high disease burdens (HIV, malaria, tuberculosis…)
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Gold salesFirst part of this decade, IMF looking less
and less relevant 2007: Experts forecast $360 million loss of
IMF assets; IMF looks to SELL GOLD RESERVES in an effort to pay for administrative costs
BUT, the sale of gold requires approval of US Congress!
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Advocacy opportunityLimit wage ceilings
that contribute to health and education worker shortages
Rescind the use of restrictive deficit- and inflation-reduction targets, which limit countries’ ability to grow their economies
Reform governance structure of IMF
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Gold sales update• So many Eastern European countries
(Ukraine, Hungary, Latvia, Belarus, more!) taking out loans that the IMF is projecting a $650 million dollar profit next year!
• Which means no more need to sell gold = • “Gold sales have fallen right to the bottom of
the IMF’s list of priorities and it is doubtful they will be lobbying very hard for it any more…” • – Claudio Loser, former director of IMF’s Western
Hemisphere Dept.
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New directions for gold sales
• Debt Relief
• Reform of IMF governance and policies