IMF-World Bank meetings draw modest protests in Bangkok over growing inequality

BANGKOK (AP) — Dozens of people marched in Bangkok on Thursday, seeking to draw the attention of world financial leaders to poverty, pollution and other grievances during a meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Protesters, some wearing masks of U.S. President Donald Trump, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva and other leaders, dragged a float of a big pink pig with dollar signs for eyes toward the venue, briefly blocking traffic near the rigorously guarded convention center where more than 15,000 officials and experts were gathered for the IMF’s autumn meeting.

The protesters were also demonstrating against financial institutions and against what they said were the “vile abuses” of the Thai government and financial institutions.

“Our country is facing a crisis of household debt. Our people are growing poorer. Our environment is deteriorating. Climate disasters are intensifying,” the People’s Network Against the World Bank and IMF said in a written declaration.

Thailand has used the meetings as an opportunity to showcase its capital city, where luxury hotels and other trappings of extreme wealth contrast with shantytowns, fetid canals and people sleeping rough along major thoroughfares.

Recent severe floods have wrecked crops and damaged millions of homes and businesses, adding to the hardships for many Thais.

Apart from a minor scuffle with police on a pedestrian bridge, the peaceful protesters marched from the nearby Khlong Toei slum toward the convention center and then disbanded.

Growing inequality and the challenges posed by climate-related disasters and war are among the many problems leaders are discussing during their weeklong meetings.

Thailand is among many low- and middle-income countries, especially net energy importers, that have struggled as the Iran war has pushed oil prices past $100 a barrel for much of this year. It also is the most income-unequal country in the region, according to the World Bank.

In its latest forecasts, the IMF has warned that rising prices and debt are worsening inequality in many of its 191 member economies.

In Asia, regional economic growth is projected to slow to 4.8% this year from 5% in 2025, and then to 4.4% in 2027, dragged lower by the back-to-back shocks of the pandemic, the Ukraine war, the Iran war and higher tariffs and other trade barriers, IMF economists say.

The IMF chief and other top economic experts have emphasized the need for countries, including Thailand, to ensure they control debt by focusing their government spending on helping their most vulnerable people with targeted and temporary assistance.

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Associated Press journalists Haruka Nuga and Sakchai Lalit contributed to this report.