The Center for Global Development

and

The New Rules for Global Finance Coalition

 

Invite you to a discussion of the

 

Final Report of the Working Group on

 

IMF-Supported Programs and Health Spending

 

Monday, July 2, 2007

 

3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

 

Center for Global Development

1776 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Third Floor

Washington, DC  20036

 

Directions:  A short walk from the Dupont Circle Metro on the Red Line 

Click here for a Map.

  

All are welcome, but RSVP requested.  

Please RSVP to jbaker@new-rules.org

 

Critics of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have alleged that the macroeconomic programs it supports in low-income countries unduly constrain a desirable scaling-up of health expenditures, even when external financing is potentially available, because its macroeconomic programs are too stringent or because the use of ceilings on government wage bills in IMF programs unnecessarily disrupts much-needed expansions of the health workforce. The IMF response to these criticisms has been that choices on expenditure priorities, which are always necessary, are made by governments, not the IMF. To investigate these issues, the Center for Global Development convened a Working Group consisting of 15 individuals drawn from developing countries, academia, civil society, and multilateral organizations and with a diverse range of experience in health sector and macroeconomic issues. The final Policy Report of the group summarizes the key evidence, explains changes needed to improve the integration of macroeconomic and health sector policies, and makes a number of specific recommendations for improvement—with the focus on the IMF in particular.

 

The final report as well as a series of background papers prepared for the Working Group, including detailed case studies of Mozambique, Rwanda, and Zambia will be available shortly on the CGD website at http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/ghprn/workinggroups/imf.

 

Discussants

 

David Goldsbrough is a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development and chaired the Working Group on IMF Programs and Health Spending. Previously, he was Deputy Director of the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF.

 

Sanjeev Gupta is a Senior Advisor in the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund.  Previously, he was Assistant Director in the African Department and Division Chief of the Expenditure Policy Division of the IMF. 

 

Jo Marie Griesgraber is Executive Director at the New Rules for Global Finance Coalition. Previously, she was Director of Policy at Oxfam America and Director of the Rethinking Bretton Woods Project at the Center of Concern.

 

Rick Rowden is a Senior Policy Analyst at ActionAid International USA. Previously, he was a policy researcher and advocate at RESULTS Educational Fund and a board member of the Jubilee USA Network.