The IMF still functions as a colonial 'debt enforcer' despite transformation rhetoric, new report reveals

new report reveals

• Report reveals that African countries are spending an average of 7.6% of their national budgets on public service wage bills, below the global average of 9%. 
• The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) social spending advice still perpetuates unequal and colonial systems that treat countries very differently. 
• While rich countries like the United Kingdom are encouraged to expand public sector investments, those like Brazil, Nepal, Nigeria and other African nations are advised to cut spending on essential public services to repay external debt.

A new report by ActionAid, Education International, the Tax and Education Alliance and partners has revealed how the IMF’s rigid, one-size-fits-all approach to public spending is disproportionately harming low-income countries across Africa and Asia. The report reveals staggering double standards and calls out the empty rhetoric of change within the institution, labelling it as a debt enforcer that serves the interests of wealthy creditors over human lives, public services, and gender equality.

Released today, Still cooking with a failed recipe - A review of IMF country advice on social spending, public services, debt, tax and gender equality unmasks the stark disparities in how the IMF treats the Global North versus lower-income nations. 

For instance, the UK spends 15.9% of its gross domestic product on its public workforce, and it is advised to increase public spending. On the other hand, lower-income nations like Nigeria and Nepal spend a mere 1.9% and 2.5%, respectively, but are still forced to freeze or cut spending on public services that cripple their ability to rebuild while repaying debt to Global North countries and lenders.

Arthur Larok, the Secretary General of ActionAid, said, 

"The IMF’s recipe book is completely outdated. By forcing lower-income nations to squeeze public workers, cut social spending, and prioritise foreign creditors over education and healthcare, the IMF is functioning as a global debt enforcer rather than a global development partner."

Reviewed documents from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe revealed that while the IMF talks about protecting the vulnerable, its actual budget rules do the opposite by enforcing cuts to public spending that would benefit them.

The NGOs call out the IMF’s rigid, one-size-fits-all approach, which aggressively pushes countries to freeze public sector wages, completely ignoring how little those nations might already be spending. At the same time, the IMF has largely ignored calls to boost social spending, failing to account for massive global gaps, where countries like Senegal spend just 0.1% of their national budget on social programs compared to 20% in the UK.

"The IMF bizarrely argues that cutting the wages of nurses, teachers, and doctors is necessary to create space for priority spending, entirely ignoring that these frontline workers are the priority. On the other hand, they encourage Global North countries to invest more in public service," said Roos Saalbrink, Global Lead on Economic Justice at ActionAid International. 

The IMF's inaction on the global debt crisis is deafening. Despite three-quarters of lower-income nations now spending more on debt payments than on healthcare, the IMF refuses to support widespread debt cancellation. Instead, it acts as a global debt collector, forcing indebted countries to squeeze their citizens to satisfy wealthy overseas lenders. 

Jennifer Lipenga, the Tax and Gender Equality Policy Advisor at the Tax and Education Alliance, said

“Feminist and women’s rights movements have increasingly shown that regressive taxes such as value added taxes (VAT) have disproportionate impacts on lower-income households, particularly women and other structurally marginalized groups. Yet, the IMF’s tax advice remains regressive and is not informed by gender impact assessments, nor does it reflect global gender equality commitments that countries have signed on to, such as CEDAW”

The report concludes that the IMF remains structurally unreformed and no longer fit for purpose and calls upon national governments to break the colonial chains imposed by the fund.

Cassandra Hallett, Education International Deputy General Secretary, said:

"This report confirms what education unions have been saying for years: public sector wage bill constraints are not neutral fiscal tools—they are political choices that cap the hiring of teachers, diminish salaries, and deepen the global teacher shortage. When governments are told to freeze or cut education wages, classrooms become more overcrowded, the profession becomes less attractive, and students pay the price. The IMF and governments must abandon this failed approach and support policies that invest in teachers as the backbone of quality education."

It is time for the IMF to be retired, not reformed and a fairer, alternative multilateral space, specifically the UN Tax Convention and the UN Convention on Sovereign Debt, must replace it. 

/ENDS//

Methodology

This report is based on an analysis of 29 IMF documents covering the period February 2022 to February 2025 across 11 diverse countries: Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, the UK, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These covered 14 Article IV consultations, nine lending and programme documents, and six additional documents including Selected Issues papers and Technical Assistance reports (see Annex III for a full list of documents).

Collaborating organisations

1. ActionAid International
2. Education International 
3. The Tax and Education Alliance 

Co-sponsored by

4. Afrodad
5. Akina Mama wa Africa, 
6. APMDD 
7. Bretton Woods Project
8. CESR
9. Debt Justice
10. EndAusterity Campaign
11. FEMNET
12. Global Alliance for Tax Justice
13. Global Social Justice
14. IBON International
15. ITUC
16. Latindadd
17. MENAFEM
18. Public Services International
19. Tax Justice Network
20. Third World Network
21. WEDO