Oxfam: IMF Should Help Boost Crisis Spending in Developing Countries

Many poor countries are “forced” to scale down their financial crisis response spending sooner than necessary, Oxfam says. The international organization found in a recent survey that several developing countries cut down their education, agriculture, social protection and health spending even as the 2015 deadline of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals approaches. Oxfam says the International Monetary Fund should step up to address this growing trend of budget cuts. IMF, the anti-poverty campaigner notes, should change some of its rules to allow it to give grants, and not loans, to poor countries.