Ei-iE

Impacts of IMF policies on national education budgets and teachers

Rick Rowden

published 23 June 2011 updated 13 January 2022

This Education International Research Institute report provides a critical review of how current IMF macroeconomic policy conditions and advice impact on the ability of borrowing countries to finance national education budgets, wages for public sector teachers, and how such policies affect the ability of governments to achieve the progressive realization of the Right to Education for their citizens.

It then offers a review of other alternative more  expansionary fiscal, monetary and financial policy options which could allow for greater mobilization of financial resources available for future education budgets.

It examines three in-depth country case studies of current IMF loan programs in Jamaica, Uganda and Latvia.

Finally, it offers a proposed advocacy strategy and framework for increasing public scrutiny of current IMF loan program conditions, widening the domestic national public debates about such policies, and enhancing public participation in discussions of possible alternative macroeconomic policy options for increasing financing for education.