{"id":3422,"date":"2018-10-16T18:29:46","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T18:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/?p=3422"},"modified":"2019-03-26T20:28:08","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T20:28:08","slug":"the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development<\/p>\n

Asia continues to draw attention as the \u201cmost important engine of global growth,\u201d according to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. Yet, as growth on the continent intensifies, countries are also experiencing deepening income and wealth inequality. Income disparities in 11 economies \u2013 about four-fifths of the region\u2019s population \u2013 are widening, and while inequality gaps within countries are closing elsewhere, they have been growing in Asia. By the World Bank\u2019s own account, \u201cinequality in Indonesia has reached historically high levels,\u201d with the wealthiest 10 per cent consuming as much as the poorest 54 per cent in 2014, which is an increase from 42 per cent in 2002.<\/p>\n

Inequality, however, is not a recent phenomenon. In contexts of already sharp inequalities in the 1980s, the World Bank and the IMF extended loan packages with stringent repayment conditions that compelled borrowing countries to align their economic policies with market-based approaches. Deeply encroaching on national economic policy, structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) called for the unfettered cross-border flow of goods, services and capital, privatisation of state facilities, broad-based taxes and social spending cuts as part of austerity measures.<\/p>\n

SAPs failed to attain their avowed aims of increasing industrial capacity and competitiveness, among others. Much-touted export growth was found very narrowly based on resource extraction and cheap labour, and was eventually eroded by deteriorating terms of trade and costlier imports. Trade and current account deficits swelled as this extractivist model was imposed, aggravating the external debt situation that the international financial institutions (IFIs) sought to solve in the first place with SAPs.<\/p>\n

One is reminded of the emperor insisting he is wearing new clothes, as the IFIs essentially pursue the same neoliberal path that brought us to where we are now<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Domestic production deteriorated and triggered lay-offs and closures of local business enterprises. In Bangladesh, the rapid removal of tariffs, \u201copened a floodgate of imports from better-financed transnational corporations.\u201d Import-substituting industries such as cotton and sugar waned, as industry-led employment substantially shrunk, especially in manufacturing. In the Philippines, a formerly booming garments sector contracted as cheaper goods flooded the global market, leading to a fall in export demand. SAPs\u2019 promotion of market flexibility and wage caps dealt harsh blows to labour rights. In addition to promoting wage stagnation, they impeded the protection of collective bargaining and freedom of association rights. Labour flexibilisation brought greater job insecurity, especially for women who were already marginalised in insecure, low-paid employment. Thus, even without specific reference to labour conditions, SAPs \u201c[represented] a substantial shift in the political balance of power between organized labour and business in recipient countries, as labour groups [lost] influence to the benefit of capital,\u201d according to research in the journal International Union Rights. The persistence of the IFIs\u2019 support for labour market flexibilisation is most recently evidenced by the World Bank\u2019s draft 2019 World Development Report on the changing nature of work, which has attracted much criticism (see Observer Summer 2018).<\/p>\n

The biggest winners of these policies, then and now, are wealthy, politically well-placed elites and multinational corporations. As these issues manifest in more contemporary accounts of inequality, they highlight the persistently adverse outcomes of neoliberal policy on the working poor. A third of the region\u2019s workers still remain below the international poverty threshold of $1.90 per day in purchasing power parity. Wage workers were paid only $73 per month in Nepal in 2008, $119 in Pakistan in 2013 and $121 in Cambodia in 2012. For Southeast Asia, wage growth has been noted by the International Labour Organization as even slower than in South Asia and East Asia.<\/p>\n

Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development Asia continues to draw attention as the \u201cmost important engine of global growth,\u201d according…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":3452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-updates"],"yoast_head":"\nThe IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia - Our Land Our Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia - Our Land Our Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development Asia continues to draw attention as the \u201cmost important engine of global growth,\u201d according…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our Land Our Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-16T18:29:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-26T20:28:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/highest-bidder-med.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"569\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tnoguchi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tnoguchi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"tnoguchi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/a46c4019b7b8aff3e03a905e44a75e51\"},\"headline\":\"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-16T18:29:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-26T20:28:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/\"},\"wordCount\":604,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Updates\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/\",\"name\":\"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia - Our Land Our Business\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-16T18:29:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-26T20:28:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/\",\"name\":\"Our Land Our Business\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Our Land Our Business\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/OurLandOurBiz_final.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/OurLandOurBiz_final.jpg\",\"width\":1689,\"height\":742,\"caption\":\"Our Land Our Business\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/a46c4019b7b8aff3e03a905e44a75e51\",\"name\":\"tnoguchi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d87c6ba699546c54b358ef91005cec65ef9e090a17e1f937e0f22e60dfe2fe72?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d87c6ba699546c54b358ef91005cec65ef9e090a17e1f937e0f22e60dfe2fe72?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tnoguchi\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/author\/tnoguchi\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia - Our Land Our Business","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia - Our Land Our Business","og_description":"by Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development Asia continues to draw attention as the \u201cmost important engine of global growth,\u201d according…","og_url":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/","og_site_name":"Our Land Our Business","article_published_time":"2018-10-16T18:29:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-03-26T20:28:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":569,"url":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/highest-bidder-med.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"tnoguchi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tnoguchi","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/"},"author":{"name":"tnoguchi","@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/a46c4019b7b8aff3e03a905e44a75e51"},"headline":"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia","datePublished":"2018-10-16T18:29:46+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-26T20:28:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/"},"wordCount":604,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#organization"},"articleSection":["News","Updates"],"inLanguage":"es-ES"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/","url":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/","name":"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia - Our Land Our Business","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-10-16T18:29:46+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-26T20:28:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-ES","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/the-imf-and-world-bank-aiding-and-abetting-inequality-in-asia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/","name":"Our Land Our Business","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"es-ES"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#organization","name":"Our Land Our Business","url":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-ES","@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/OurLandOurBiz_final.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/OurLandOurBiz_final.jpg","width":1689,"height":742,"caption":"Our Land Our Business"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/a46c4019b7b8aff3e03a905e44a75e51","name":"tnoguchi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-ES","@id":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d87c6ba699546c54b358ef91005cec65ef9e090a17e1f937e0f22e60dfe2fe72?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d87c6ba699546c54b358ef91005cec65ef9e090a17e1f937e0f22e60dfe2fe72?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tnoguchi"},"url":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/author\/tnoguchi\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/highest-bidder-med.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlandourbusiness.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}