Three points for a transformative agenda for protecting the economic and social rights of the less-privileged: or something to think about when talking to the IMF
Photo: protesters at Independence Square. From the internet Had the decision been thought out and strategic like that of Mahathir in Malaysia during the Asian Financial crisis, I would have backed the Sri Lanka government’s lack of interest in going to the IMF for bridging finance. After all, the Fund’s reputation has not always been positive when it comes to helping governments protect the economic and social rights of citizens, and achieving environmental justice or addressing climate change. Many would agree that staying away from the IMF’s conditionalities is not in itself a bad thing. We know for instance that early this year Pakistan introduced a controversial set of fiscal reforms so that they could revive the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility that had been approved in 2019. The reforms included a regime of new taxes on solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles that are likely to derail the country’s energy transition. [1] We also know that the extreme vulnerability of c