IMF-WBG Annual Meetings – Marrakech, 2023
This year, the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) is joining a momentous movement of civil society organizations and activists at the 2023 annual meetings of the IMF and WBG, taking place in Marrakech-Morocco. ARI has been producing a wealth of knowledge about the impact of international financial institutions (IFIs) on socio-economic and environmental justice, addressing the global, regional, and national politico-economic factors that are making of these multilateral institutions the backbone of neoliberal economic models and inequitable development paradigms. ARI’s latest and most significant research on this front has culminated in an upcoming regional paper on “Financing Universal Social Protection Systems in the Arab Region: What alternatives to debt and austerity?”, which has been produced under ARI’s social protection program and the preliminary findings of which will be presented at these annual meetings.
ARI and its partners, including the members of the global campaign on universal social security, plan on being vocal in Marrakech to lobby the officials of the two IFIs - knowing that national bureaucrats are attending their meetings - to put an end to their arbitrary policies that are shrinking fiscal spaces, thus limiting public and especially social spending; promoting austerity; imposing conditionalities that hinder alternatives; driving countries into debt traps; enforcing detrimental credit risk management; privatizing social insurance; and developing poverty-targeted social safety nets; among other notorious practices... ARI will build on its research efforts to advocate alternatives to this prevalent model, ranging from key fiscal reforms and solidarity financing instruments to utilizing climate finance as an opportunity for funding universal social security, and other potential solutions on the national level.
To access ARI's full agenda and calendar at the 2023 Annual Meetings in Marrakech, click on this link.
To read the joint statement released by the Global Campaign on Universal Social Security, which ARI is a member of, click on this link. For the press release issued by the campaign ahead of the annual meetings, click here. For the recording of the campaign launch event, which was also held before the meetings and moderated by our Social Protection Program Director Farah Al Shami, visit this link.
For the events that ARI is leading on:
To Watch the session's recording, Click here.
To Watch the session's recording, Click here.
To Watch the session's recording, Click here.
For more information about the campaign, contact:
Serene Dardari <s.dardari@arab-reform.net>, Director of Communications, Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Farah Al Shami <f.alshami@arab-reform.net>, Social Protection Program Director, Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
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Which Tax Policies for Lebanon? Lessons from the Past for a Challenging Future
Morocco: The Impact of the Digitization of Public Services
