*Confronting the Contradictions*
*The IMF, wage bill caps and the case for teachers*
http://www.actionaidusa.org/pdf/AAConf_Contradictions_Final.pdf
By Akanksha A. Marphatia, Rachel Moussié, Anne-Marie Ainger and David Archer
A new report by ActionAid's multi-country International Education Team and based on in-depth country case studies from Malawi, Mozambique and Sierra Leone, shows that a major factor behind the chronic and severe shortage of teachers is that International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies have required many poor countries to freeze or curtail teacher recruitment. The IMF may have varying degrees of influence in directly setting the wage bill ceilings. However, by insisting on overly restrictive macroeconomic policies that constrain government spending on wages, it is in part responsible for the persisting teacher shortage. In all three countries examined, the wage bill ceiling is too low to allow the government to hire the teachers they need to achieve the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 40:1 recommended by the Education for All -- Fast-track Initiative (EFA-FTI). There is considerable evidence that the current ceilings compromise the quality of education in each of these countries. There is a growing contradiction between donors who are trying to "scale-up" aid and spending to train and hire enough teachers meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the IMF macroeconomic policies that are discouraging recipients from spending the new aid. This contradiction must by confronted by education advocates. For the full report, click here: http://www.actionaidusa.org/pdf/AAConf_Contradictions_Final.pdf
...See also: Related New Report from IMF's Independent Evaluation Office
ActionAid's concerns about overly restrictive IMF macroeconomic policies were affirmed among the key findings of new report by the IMF's Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) on "The IMF and Aid to Sub-Saharan Africa," which was recently discussed at the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC. The IEO report analyzed 29 IMF loan programs between 1999 and 2005, and found that only about $3 in every $10 in annual aid increases were programmed to be spent, largely because of extremely conservative monetary policies in IMF programs. This IEO report and responses by the aid advocacy community are the subject of ActionAid International USA's latest newsletter, "Policies & Priorities": http://www.actionaidusa.org/pdf/PoliciesandPriorities-IFIs-Spring2007issue-1008.pdf
Rick Rowden Policy Analyst ActionAid International USA 1420 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 370-9918 (tel) (202) 835-1244 (fax) www.actionaidusa.org <http://www.actionaidusa.org>
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