As global leaders travel to Morocco for the annual International Monetary Fund meeting, the Human Rights Watch organization has called on the IMF, World Bank and other international organizations to focus on financial reforms to protect people living in countries increasingly strapped by debt. “IMF loans to dozens of countries, affecting over one billion people, frequently push governments to cut spending and raise regressive taxes in ways that harm rights,” said HRW, citing a new report on the issue. IMF bailout conditions “make lives already upended by global inflation and other economic challenges even harder,” they add. The 131-page HRW report, released at the end of September, details the impact of IMF financial policies in the face of a looming global debt crisis. The report assesses loans made in 38 countries from March 2020 to March 2023.
