TWN Info Service on Finance and Development (Jul26/01)
31 July 2026
Third World Network

Dear friends,

International monetary tightening and gendered debt crisis

A recent article by Third World Network senior advisor Bhumika Muchhala illustrates how US-led international monetary tightening exerted extraterritorial effects in Pakistan and exacerbated an ongoing gendered debt crisis. The viability of extraterritorial obligations (ETOs), as grounded in binding international treaties, to address the cross-border spillovers of international monetary tightening is analytically explored. Pakistan’s sovereign debt distress and the channels through which fiscal austerity and domestic monetary tightening reinforce gender inequality through reduced access to public services and goods, income and employment loss, adverse health impacts, and increases in poverty are examined. The subsequent international monetary tightening beginning in 2022 and its multiple spillovers on the macro policy level, including exchange rate depreciation, higher import costs and external debt payments, are illuminated. The macro effects are gendered and take place through systemic channels. Incorporating feminist economics literature on gender and monetary policy, the article explores the viability of ETOs to address the gendered inequalities deepened by international monetary tightening.

The article, "Obligations Beyond Borders?: Linking Monetary Tightening in the US to Gendered Debt Crisis in Pakistan Through Extraterritorial Obligations", appeared in a special issue of the Feminist Economics journal on "Gendering the Debt Crisis: Feminist Political Economy Perspectives on Debt and the Global South".

The article can be viewed at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13545701.2026.2646413#d1e113

The full special issue is available at https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rfec20/32/2

With best wishes,
Third World Network