Hundreds protest in Bangkok urging IMF and World Bank to change approach to developing countries

Centre · 2Hundreds of people protested in Bangkok on Friday 16 October, demanding that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank change how they deal with the developing world. 1 2 Centre · 2The protest coincided with the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in the Thai capital, where finance ministers, central bank governors and other policymakers gathered this week to tackle an inflation crisis fuelled by the Iran war and other economic shocks. 1 2 Centre · 2Coconut farmer Sombat Chuekrod, 51, travelled more than 200km to attend, saying: "Thai people are already poor. Please don't make them any poorer." 1 2

Centre · 2Organisers called on the institutions to focus on climate financing and tax reforms that help poorer citizens, rather than demand that governments cut subsidies and social spending. 1 2 Centre · 1Organiser Lidy Nacpil said in a statement that governments across the Global South are being forced to squeeze spending on public health, education and social protection to service what she called "illegitimate debts" to wealthy nations and private creditors. 1 Centre · 2Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar said the world faces an "inequality emergency" and that the IMF's calls for fiscal consolidation were code for cutting essential social support; he warned it could lead to price rises and hunger. 1 2

Centre · 2The IMF's message has been that worldwide debt is too high and governments need to cut spending and rebuild fiscal buffers. This week it upgraded its world economic outlook, citing unexpected "resilience", but warned that prosperity was fragmented and that oil-importing low-income countries not exposed to the AI investment boom were the most vulnerable. 1 2 Centre · 2Asked what vulnerable countries should do, IMF deputy chief of research Petya Koeva Brooks said their situation was "more difficult" but they had "no other choice" than to fix their fiscal balances by cutting spending or raising revenues. 1 2 Centre · 2The IMF has proposed making energy and food subsidies introduced after the Iran war more targeted, while the UN Development Programme warned this week that cutting them entirely could push 130 million people into poverty; Nacpil asked how one could draw a line between who deserves a subsidy and who does not. 1 2

Centre · 2Reza Baqir of Alvarez & Marsal, a former Pakistani central bank governor, spoke of the difficult trade-offs but stressed addressing domestic governance so countries can build their own fiscal buffers and rely less on the IMF. Christina Segal-Knowles of the Rockefeller Foundation said developing countries were "effectively being given two bad options", debt at sky-high interest rates or extraordinary spending cuts, and proposed a "growth and investment reset" with sustained concessional funding. 2 1 Centre · 2Protesters prepared to spend Friday night under a flyover; activist Supaporn Malailoy said citizens are "key stakeholders in the negotiations" and that the issue is about "shaping the very structure and direction of the nation's development". 1 2