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Over 500 organizations including Human Rights Watch have told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to rethink the conditions it is placing on its loans in the Covid-19 era. In a statement jointly issued by the organisations on October 6, they said IMF’s policies, reflected in the conditionalities for its loans, will be highly influential in shaping the economic and social landscape after the pandemic.

According to the group, IMF has already started to lock countries into long-term austerity-conditioned programs that threaten to worsen poverty and inequality and undermine economic and social rights.

“We, the undersigned, call on the IMF to immediately stop promoting austerity around the world, and instead advocate policies that advance gender justice, reduce inequality, and decisively put people and planet first,” said the group, adding that “a significant number of the IMF’s Covid-19 emergency financing packages contain language promoting fiscal consolidation in the recovery phase.”

Instead of austerity cuts, the group said IMF should create fiscal space and give governments the time, flexibility, and support to achieve a sustainable, inclusive, and just recovery.

“The global economy stands at a crossroads between further decades of austerity and debt crises, or adopting a macroeconomic framework compatible with fighting inequality, pursuing climate justice, realizing human rights, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” said the group. “Ahead of the 2020 IMF Annual Meetings, we call on the IMF to turn away from the mistakes of the past and finally close the dark chapter on IMF-conditioned austerity for good.”