International Finances
This section contains documents on World Bank and International Monetary Fund policy, and on debt and other capital flows between North and South.
NGOs ask for a comprehensive insolvency framework
Swiss NGOs welcome the approval of the postulate of MP Felix Gutzwiller in favour of an insolvency framework for states by the Small Chamber of the Swiss Parliament. They ask the Federal Councillor and Head of the Finance Department, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, to make come true her announcement of today and to work out quickly a proposal for a mechanism involving all creditors and all debts. ...>>
World Bank’s «Program for Results» proposal
Goodbye to environmental protection and social standards! The World Bank plans to create a financing instrument for broad-based government programmes. It threatens to curtail environmental protection, social rights and the scope for co-determination by the people. ...>>
Twenty years of debt relief: The debt spiral continues
The Swiss debt reduction programme turns 20 in 2011. It has accomplished a lot and has served as a model for international debt relief initiatives. Yet poor country debt is still an issue. What is needed is a forward-looking solution rather than an exclusive focus on old debts and symptoms. The chances for this are better than heretofore. ...>>
Regional development banks - the great unknowns
What do regional development banks actually do? This question is also relevant for Parliament, which is to decide on the scale of Switzerland’s future commitment. ...>>
Financial markets: patchwork instead of bold reforms
Two years after the big crash, the urgently needed reform of global financial markets has so far made only little progress. The new international bank regulation standards are not sufficient to make the world economy fairer and more crisis-proof. ...>>
