Globalisation of poverty : impacts of IMF and world bank reforms

The global crisis is not centred on any single region of the world. National economies are interlocked, commercial banking and busi ness ownership (controlled by some 750 global corporations) tran scend economic borders, international trade is integrated and financial markets around the world are connected through instant computer link-up. The present crisis is far more complex than that of the interwar period, its social consequences and geo-political implications, far-reaching, particularly in the uncertain aftermath of the Cold War.

The movement of the global economy is "regulated" by "a worldwide process of debt collection" which constricts the institutions of the national state and contributes to destroying employment and economic activity. In the developing world, the burden of the external debt has reached two trillion dollars: entire countries have been destabilised as a consequence of the collapse of national currencies, often resulting in the outbreak of social strife, ethnic conflicts and civil war. This book highlights the process of economic restructuring by international creditors on developing countries since the beginning of the 1980s.