Groups from around the world call on IMF for anti-corruption measures
In a letter, organizations ask the Fund to strengthen its monitoring of emergency loans to combat coronavirus
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF
Nearly 100 organizations signed a letter asking the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to include measures to improve the control of its emergency funding to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The text claims that the monitoring adopted by the IMF for the loans is insufficient to keep checks on governments all over the world.
The organizations say the Fund needs to take more concrete steps to empower civil society and the groups that monitor and protect the funding.
In the letter, they argue that many of them “work in countries where government spending is opaque, auditors do not exist or are not independent, and authorities do not tolerate criticism”.
During the Spring Meetings, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva guaranteed loan contracts to combat the coronavirus. But she defended keeping receipts – to ensure transparency and accountability by governments.
In the letter, the organizations note that the IMF displayed creativity and a sense of urgency in the Meetings. But they call on the Fund to maintain this capacity, by supplying governments with more technical resources. This would effectively enable the monitoring of billions of dollars in funding.
The organizations list measures that can be taken by the IMF. They include protecting the ability of groups to operate and formally recognizing their monitoring roles, as well as applying transparency to the loans and strengthening the capacities of the groups.
According to the organizations that signed the letter, this is the only way for there to be effective oversight, so the IMF funding gets to the people who need it most.
