Austerity has helped Hungary to survive the recession—so far

For those who have read "Globalization and Its Discontents," this article would be a very good example of the IMF policies. In summary, it talks about cutting the government spending as a measure of combating recession in Hungary. Such an approach, contractionary in its nature, may seem very controversial. However, everything becomes clear, when the author mentions the IMF loan and the IMF requirement to keep budget deficit within 3.8% of GDP.

In reality, this IMF policy is not aimed to help out the Hungarian economy, but to support foreign-owned banks and the financial sector in general. Meanwhile, cutting government spending may have dire effects on the economy in the long run and can cost quite a few jobs.