G20 Told to Change IMF and World Bank

A loose group of non-government organizations came together yesterday under the banner of the “Global Civil Society Coalition” to call on G20 members to support poor countries with better economic policies. Tim Noonan is the global campaign director of the International Trade Union Confederation. He says the Pittsburgh Summit needs to be a “jobs summit.” He says while bankers may be seeing a recovery, the poor people of the world are not. And there cannot be a successful or moral recovery without global job creation. He says he is also calling on the members of the G20 to allow poor countries turning to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for help to take some of the same counter cyclical steps the bigger nations are taking. He says deficit spending is needed not only from the world’s largest economies but in the developing economies as well. Gorgui Sow of the African Network campaign on Education for All says those loaning institutions need to allow the struggling countries to spend more on education while still accepting loans. He says all countries must spend at least 20% of their budgets on educations and an international fund needs to be created to help those that cannot reach that threshold. Finally, Jubilee Zambia Program Officer Privilege Hang Andu says the length and interest rates tagged to the loans must also be changed. He says old loans given to corrupt governments must be forgiven and new loans must come with a long enough payback times to allow for economies to grow before the nations are stifled with high debt payments.