New research by ActionAid, Public Services International, and Education International warns that International Monetary Fund’s advice to cut government spending in the global south has wiped nearly $10 billion from public sector wage budgets in 15 countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This is the equivalent of cutting more than three million essential jobs, such as teachers, nurses, and doctors, despite the growing need for such professionals during the pandemic.
The research reveals that despite IMF claims that wage bill containment is a temporary measure, all the 15 countries studied have been advised to cut or freeze public sector wage bills for three or more years and most for at least five years.
The report, The Public Versus Austerity, shows how cutting budgets used to pay public sector workers is undermining progress on health, education and gender equality while blocking Covid-19 responses and the transformations needed to address the climate crisis.
Across the 15 countries studied, if governments were to raise the amount of GDP spent on public sector wage bills by just one percentage point this would allow for the recruitment of eight million extra teachers, doctors, nurses, and other key workers.