Representatives from companies with a history of mismanagement of public contracts and renowned tax-dodging practices will meet in Geneva this week to lobby for business-friendly UN standards on Public- Private Partnerships.

A new publication by the ILO confirms PSI’s long-held position: the privatisation of public pension systems has delivered vast returns to a tiny financial elite while diminishing the incomes of workers in retirement.

PSI welcomes this ground-breaking new report on "Extreme poverty and Human rights" which finds that "widespread privatisation of public goods in many societies is systematically eliminating human rights protections and further marginalising those living in poverty". "This report will certainly be helpful in pushing for an open debate at the UN on the impact of privatisation and whether PPPs are truly fit for purpose" says PSI General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli.

The World Bank’s World Development Report 2019:The Changing Nature of Work, has attracted significant criticism from trade unions and civil society since a draft was circulated earlier this year. PSI and BWI responded to the draft report and the work of the bank and its lending arm in a panel organised by PSI, BWI, UNI and ITUC, at the World Bank Civil Society Policy Forum.

A new IMF study concludes that Britain’s underlying public finances are among the worst in the world, thanks to the cost of bailing out the banks after the financial crisis and because “the UK has done more to sell off public assets and consequently reduce the possible income from assets that could offset demands on the public purse” says The Guardian.

Experts call for World Bank Group to end aggressive promotion of PPPs for public service provision. A new report exposing how public private partnerships across the globe have drained the public purse and failed to deliver in the public interest will be launched at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank in Bali this week (Wednesday October 10 at 1.30pm).

Argentinians are experiencing deja-vu this month as the government announces massive layoffs and a hiring freeze as part of an adjustment package attached to a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Thousands of public servants are being forced yet again to swallow the bitter pill of austerity, which the IMF programme – published last Friday – aims to patch up through increased targeted social assistance.

PSI affiliates in Nigeria in collaboration with the Environmental Rights Action and Friends of the Earth Nigeria held a workshop in Lagos on 3-4 April. Representatives from Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda also attended the meeting.

Across the world, a wave of remunicipalisations has delivered water services back into public hands, often after decades of private mismanagement.

The European Court of Auditors (ECA), the European Union’s very own Financial Watchdog, has slammed Public Private Partnerships in a no-holds-barred report released today.

Despite the mounting evidence of the problems of public-private partnerships (PPPs), private concessions, or other forms of turning public water utilities into profit machines for private corporations, the pro-market national government of Japan snuck in a legislative provision to do just that. PSI supports Jichiro, Zensuido and allies opposing water privatisation bill in Japan.

Leading up to the recent election, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza proposed privatizing the water supply to close the city’s budget gap. Privatizing water is an attractive proposal for urban areas facing budget crises, but it has tremendous risks.