Bretton Woods Institutions Turn 80: Time to Retire Their Failed Economic Recipes in MENA?

Writer: Sahar Mechmech

With a stalemate in Lebanon, a blocked process in Tunisia, and an unrealistic deal with Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) struggles to meet its mandate of macroeconomic stability or ensuring states are able to independently finance their budgets without resorting to emergency lending in the Middle East and North Africa. The fund is not alone in its struggles. The World Bank also wrestles with contentious projects including controversial public-private partnerships and ineffective cash transfer programs that fail to reach millions of people in need.

However, the lack of success of the two Bretton Woods institutions—the IMF and the World Bank—is unsurprising to anyone familiar with their work which, despite a mea culpa in 2016, remains heavily reliant on a handful of austerity policies.

Despite the mountain of evidence on the failure of their policies, the IMF and the World Bank show little signs of changing on their 80-year anniversary.

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