Read more about the article Aljazeera – How unpaid corporate taxes led to violent protests in Ecuador

Aljazeera – How unpaid corporate taxes led to violent protests in Ecuador

Otaviano Canuto, a senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South who has also held roles at the IMF and the World Bank, tells Al Jazeera that the scrapping of fuel subsidies had differentiated impacts on the social structure in Ecuador. "Cutting the fuel subsidies, paradoxically, while in some other countries it might benefit particularly the poor, because as long as it is accompanied by compensatory social policies, the fact is that the major beneficiaries very often are the middle classes who use cars, who benefit from the oil subsidies and so on," Canuto says.

Continue ReadingAljazeera – How unpaid corporate taxes led to violent protests in Ecuador
Read more about the article The IMF, Argentina and Ecuador: Have Lessons Been Learned?
People receive a free meal from a soup kitchen in front of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offices in Buenos Aires, on October 31, 2019, during the first social protest since Argentina's president-elect Alberto Fernandez won the South American country's presidential election. - The return to power of protectionist Peronists comes amid a lengthy recession and a debt crunch, raising market fears of a possible default on a $57 billion IMF loan. Fernandez has insisted his government would not default but rather seek to renegotiate the terms of the IMF loan, and sought to reassure voters that their bank deposits would be safe under his administration. (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP) (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

The IMF, Argentina and Ecuador: Have Lessons Been Learned?

One major difficulty faced by the IMF, or whoever designs macroeconomic adjustment policies in the current Latin American context, is the difficulty involved in reading appropriately – and responsibly – a country’s political dynamics and how people will react to austerity policies. Even if the IMF could hire Machiavelli as an adviser, its ability to take political tea leaves into account would not improve. As for avoiding risks entirely, that would only happen if the IMF fundamentally changes its mission – and stops lending to troubled countries entirely.

Continue ReadingThe IMF, Argentina and Ecuador: Have Lessons Been Learned?