A/HRC/36/40 Annex IV Global Unions “IFI Actions must contribute to building a fair and sustainable global economy” Statement by Global Unions to the 2017 Spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank Washington, 21-23 April 2017 Introduction 1. A slight uptick in global growth prospects announced in the international financial institutions’ latest economic forecasts does not signal an improvement in the situation of working people. Global Unions1 cite data showing wage stagnation and weak employment growth in much of the world, and urge the IFIs to focus on the creation of quality jobs, achieving the transition to a low-carbon future and reducing inequality. The trade union movement is concerned by the growth of right-wing nationalism in many countries, due in part to a lack of confidence in the global economic system. The IFIs should join those calling for fairer rules in international trade and investment agreements, not push for liberalization that further strengthens investors’ rights at the expense of everyone else. 2. Global Unions’ statement puts forward detailed recommendations for IFI action to make progress on gender equality and a just transition to a sustainable economy. The statement also recommends specific measures that the IMF and World Bank should take in order to contribute to reductions in income and wealth inequality. While welcoming the World Bank’s first-time adoption in 2016 of a labour standards lending requirement, Global Unions urge the Bank to fulfil commitments to cooperate with trade unions and the ILO for its implementation. Joint work with other development banks that have several years’ experience in applying labour safeguards is also suggested. IFI forecasts do not announce improvements for working people 3. In updates to their global economic growth forecasts published at the beginning of the year, both the IMF and World Bank predict slightly higher growth for 2017 and 2018 due in large part to the impact on exporters of firmer prices for oil and some other commodities. 4. The IMF also factored in expectations of fiscal stimulus applied by the US, but both IFIs emphasized that the high degree of current policy uncertainty has increased “downside risks”. Signs of tighter credit conditions and reduced investment in emerging and developing economies, along with political instability and uncertainty in several countries, could further undermine the positive trends suggested in the latest IFI forecasts. 5. It should be noted that the IFIs’ growth predictions have been widely off the mark in recent years because of the failure to correctly assess the impacts of austerity policies, continued high unemployment and under-employment, and stagnant wages. At the beginning of 2016, the Fund and the Bank also predicted a growth uptick for that year. Instead, 2016 registered the slowest rate of global economic growth since the Great Recession year 2009. 6. Even if the slightly higher growth for 2017 predicted by the IFIs materializes, it will not significantly improve the situation of working people. Recent reports published by the International Labour Organization identify a steady deceleration of wage growth since 2012 in developing and emerging countries, and forecast a modest increase in the global unemployment rate in 2017 due to a deterioration in emerging economies (Global Wage 1 34 The Global Unions group is made up of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which has 181 million members in 163 countries; the Global Union Federations (GUFs), which represent their respective sectors at the international trade union level (BWI, EI, IAEA, IFJ, IndutriALL, ITF, IUF, PSI and UNI); and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD.