IMF and World Bank Meetings Begin Amid Concerns of Faltering Global Cooperation

By Greg Williams

Finance Ministers, heads of central banks and government delegations begin the official Spring International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings. ‎Earlier in the week the IMF released two bi-annual reports that raised concerns about global political shifts and possible rollbacks of financial transparency regulations.

"The meetings are overshadowed by concerns that some countries are pulling back from global cooperation and that financial transparency regulations are at risk of repeal," noted Eric LeCompte, who monitors the meetings and is the Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA."I'm concerned because possible roll backs of transparency regulation and renewed debt crises are a recipe for another financial crisis."

LeCompte will moderate a panel during the meetings today called "African Debt Crisis 2.0‎." Countries such as Ghana and Mozambique face renewed crises and several African countries now face famine conditions.‎ Senior IMF and World Bank officials are speaking on the panel including the World Bank's ‎Lead Africa Region Economist, Punam Chuhan-Pole and the IMF's Africa Deputy Divi‎sion Chief, Laure Redifer. Academics and representatives of civil society including Reverend Aniedi Okure and Tirivangani Mutazu also will speak on the panel.

"It is a little ironic that we are so concerned about the repeal of basic transparency protections when we still haven't put in place proper global policies to prevent debt and financial crises," stated LeCompte, who serves on United Nation expert finance groups.‎ "Globally we are still falling short on transparency initiatives and responsible lending and borrowing policies."

Read more about Jubilee USA's panel African Debt Crisis 2.0

Read the April 2017 Global Financial Stability Report

Read International Monetary Fund's April 2017 World Economic Outlook report