Austerity Archives - Oxfam Policy & Practice

Briefing paper

Not Everyone Is in the Same Boat: Climate and inequality in the Middle East and North Africa

17/07/2025

4 documents

39 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The Middle East and North Africa is one of the regions that will be affected the most by climate change, extreme weather events, exacerbating the chronic water scarcity that it suffers from and current dependency on fossil fuels. Climate change impacts are already witnessed in many countries, especially those experiencing conflicts. At the same time […]

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Briefing paper

Africa’s Inequality Crisis and the Rise of the Super-Rich

10/07/2025

4 documents

60 pages long

Languages: English, French

Keywords

Overview

Africa is facing a double inequality crisis: extreme inequality alongside weak commitment among its governments to fight it. But there is hope. The African Union has urged member states to reduce inequality by 15% in the coming decade and has identified progressive taxation as a key tool to do so. The challenge, though, is the […]

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Briefing paper

Pandemic Responses in the MENA Region: Lessons learned for an inclusive economic recovery

22/05/2023

3 documents

31 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities and poor governance practices in the MENA region and had a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable people. These persistent and structural issues also threaten a post-COVID inclusive recovery process. Austerity steers from institutions like the IMF risk further inequality and social exclusion, as evidenced by diverse and gendered […]

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Briefing paper

IMF Social Spending Floors: A fig leaf for austerity?

13/04/2023

3 documents

40 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The International Monetary Fund has said that it protects spending on education, health and social protection from cuts in its loan programmes through social spending floors. These measures are a welcome step forward, but are they effective? Analysis of all 17 IMF loan programmes (Extended Credit Facilities, or ECFs, and Extended Fund Facilities, or EFFs) […]

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Research report

The Crisis of Extreme Inequality in SADC: Fighting austerity and the pandemic

10/05/2022

8 documents

56 pages long

Languages: English, French, Portugese, Swahili

Keywords

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the extreme inequality in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, and pushed millions into poverty. The economic crisis continues due to the obscene global vaccine inequality. As of end March 2022, a dismal 14% of SADC citizens had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared with 65.5% in the United States […]

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Research report

The Inequality Crisis in East Africa: Fighting austerity and the pandemic

09/02/2022

2 documents

47 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed millions into poverty in East Africa, and worsened inequality. The economic crisis continues, due to the obscene global vaccine inequality, which means that only 4% of East African citizens had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared with 71% in high-income countries by mid-January2022. Many East African governments were already hamstrung by high […]

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Research report

The Magic Potion of Austerity and Poverty Alleviation: Narratives of political capture and inequality in the Middle East and North Africa

22/11/2021

4 documents

46 pages long

Languages: Arabic, English, French

Keywords

Overview

Dominant narratives promoting economic growth at the expense of state institutions and basic social services have long underpinned a neoliberal model of spiralling debt and austerity in the MENA region. This exacerbates political capture and inequality and takes shape in an environment of media concentration and shrinking civic space. It is important for change movements […]

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Research report

The West Africa Inequality Crisis: Fighting austerity and the pandemic

14/10/2021

6 documents

54 pages long

Languages: English, French

Keywords

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and worsened the depth of inequality in West Africa. It has pushed millions into poverty. There is no end in sight due to the obscene global vaccine inequality, which means that less than 4% of West Africans had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as at September 2021, compared with 52% […]

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Briefing paper

Adding Fuel to Fire: How IMF demands for austerity will drive up inequality worldwide

11/08/2021

1 documents

42 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a huge blow to every country, and many governments have struggled to meet their populations’ urgent needs during the crisis. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stepped in to offer extra support to a large number of countries during the pandemic. However, Oxfam’s analysis shows that as of 15 March […]

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Journal article

Debt and climate: entangled emergencies derailing women’s rights and gender justice

10/12/2020

14 pages long

Free access through journal website

Debt and climate: entangled emergencies derailing women’s rights and gender justice

Keywords

Overview

As a new debt crisis is hitting the global South, aggravated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and economies will face growing difficulties and challenges to deal with climate emergencies, adaptation, and mitigation. As we have seen in the past, debt crises tend to have a negative impact on women’s rights and […]

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