Demanding Debt Relief at the IMF Spring Meetings

On the 15th April, Jubilee Debt Campaign partner the Jubilee USA network, in collaboration with Oxfam and Action Aid, staged a demonstration outside the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The stunt was carried out in reaction to the $3 billion windfall gained by the IMF through sales of their gold stock .  The IMF is also making a $500 million ‘profit’ this year as a result of lending caused by the financial crisis it helped to create. Whilst discussions of how to spend the profits were taking place inside the meeting room, the demonstrators outside were keen to share their own opinion that the money should be used to cancel the debts of the poorest countries facing financial strife.

To chants of ‘IMF- it’s time to be bold, we can buy schools with that gold’, over sized gold bars were stacked 8 feet tall bearing the message ‘IMF: cancel debt.’ The Fund was also presented with a petition containing nearly 15,000 signatures of support including those from Jubilee Debt Campaign activists in the UK.  

The IMF delayed the decision on how to spend the gold proceeds, though the campaign has put debt relief on the agenda . To add your name to the growing number of signatories on the international petition, make sure you visit our ACT NOW page!