The IMF has a protest problem
Does it give up—or insist on painful reforms?
It has been a tumultuous few months for the International Monetary Fund’s borrowers. In June protests brought thousands onto the streets in Kenya after William Ruto, the president, laid out the spending cuts required to convince the IMF to disburse the latest instalment of the country’s $3bn bail-out. Two months later, Sheikh Hasina, prime minister of Bangladesh, which also has a programme with the fund, was ousted when reforms to the country’s bureaucracy sparked riots.
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Long, hot summer”
Finance & economics September 14th 2024
- Can anything spark Europe’s economy back to life?
- Norway’s weak currency presents a mystery
- Strangely, America’s companies will soon face higher interest rates
- Can bonds keep beating stocks?
- China’s government is surprisingly redistributive
- The IMF has a protest problem
- Why orange juice has never been more expensive
- An American sovereign-wealth fund is a risky idea
From the September 14th 2024 edition
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The great-man theory of Wall Street
Why finance is still dominated by bold individuals
Hong Kong’s property slump may be terminal
Demographics and geopolitics will make a recovery harder
Why everyone wants to lend to weak companies
An unanticipated side-effect of Donald Trump’s election victory
American veterans now receive absurdly generous benefits
An enormous rise in disability payments may complicate debt-reduction efforts
Why Black Friday sales grow more annoying every year
Nobody is to blame. Everyone suffers
Trump wastes no time in reigniting trade wars
Canada and Mexico look likely to suffer