Christian Aid Looks Back at Annual IMF and World Bank Meeting

The Singaporean government's clampdown on civil society will be remembered for this year's IMF and World Bank autumn meetings.

Christian Aid has led a boycott by civil society groups of this year's annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) in Singapore as authorities there continued to ban their representatives from entering the country.

Christian Aid partners were among those barred from entering the country. Many others were detained and questioned on arrival, including Christian Aid's senior policy officer Sony Kapoor.

Despite calls for the meetings to be cancelled, business continued as usual. At the IMF, a deal was agreed to increase the votes of a few under-represented members.

This tinkering will do nothing to address the Fund's 'legitimacy crisis' as the countries most affected by its policies still have virtually no say. The 44 countries of sub-Saharan Africa have less combined voting share than the UK, with 4.41% and 4.95% respectively.

"This deal is a farce. This process is nothing more than rearranging the deckchairs on a sinking ship," said Sony Kapoor.

"More importantly, it does not address the fundamental question of how the IMF is operating in low income countries in the first place. Christian Aid believes it is time for the IMF to stop long-term lending to them."

Although the IMF was not supposed to be a development organisation, its role has expanded to include lending to low income countries, with extensive economic conditions.

Christian Aid believes it should return to its original role - short-term financial support in times of crisis and monitoring the global economy.

At the World Bank meetings, Christian Aid was relieved that members refused to adopt World Bank President James Wolfowitz's controversial anti-corruption strategy. Instead, the consultation period was extended.

Christian Aid takes the fight against corruption extremely seriously. But it believes that it would be disastrous if the World Bank took on the role of a global anti-corruption watchdog amid concerns that it does not have the legitimacy, mandate or competence to do so.

"It is ironic that a man who was parachuted into his job through backroom deals is now the cheerleader of good governance," said Mr Kapoor.

"In the past, the Bank has used its anti-corruption work as a Trojan horse to compel countries to privatise when there is little evidence to indicate that privatisation reduces corruption," he added.

Christian Aid believes that wealthy countries must do a great deal more to tackle corruption promoted by their own multinationals, financial centres, banks and institutions, instead of continuously pointing the finger at developing countries.