The IMF and Ukraine

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[danielhutchinson]

IMF funding that keeps a Nation enslaved to the US and excludes other funding sources, seems intended to produce good returns for lending Nations. The Current Conflict in Eastern Ukraine, seems to eliminate that nation as some potential pathhway for one of the efforts that China seems to be using to develop trade paths that connect Oriental sources with Europe. A route around the North side of the Caspian Sea would allow a potentially profitable route for exports from China to flow through Ukraine and possibly provide jobs as well as more products to distribute within the Nation. Is there more to IMF loans than simply meet the eye? Are they intended to eliminate potential trade routes by simply angering Putin?

[goucho]

Although the International Monetary Fund (IMF) claims that poverty reduction is one of its objectives, some studies show that IMF borrower countries experience higher rates of poverty. This paper investigates the effects of IMF loan conditions on poverty. Using a sample of 81 developing countries from 1986 to 2016, we find that IMF loan arrangements containing structural reforms contribute to more people getting trapped in the poverty cycle, as the reforms involve deep and comprehensive changes that tend to raise unemployment, lower government revenue, increase costs of basic services, and restructure tax collection, pensions, and social security programmes.