From the March-April 2022 issue of News & Letters

The International Monetary Fund, which is supposed to lend money to struggling nations in time of need, ends up just like any private capital money-grubbing bank: charging extra fees for the “privilege” of getting a large loan. The surcharge is supposed to protect the IMF from losses (the IMF has collected some $4 billion in extra fees since 2020!), but the result is that, on top of loan payments, countries must come up with hefty additional fees. During a COVID-19 pandemic, it means these countries have less money available to protect their populations.

Far from helping to solve the economic difficulties that so many countries face under neoliberal capitalism, the terms and conditions to obtain a loan end up causing more economic pain, particularly among the poorest of a country’s population.

—Eugene Walker