On 13 July, the ITUC submitted a response to the International Monetary Fund’s public consultation on social spending. This consultation is supposed to inform the IMF’s development of a strategic framework on social protection. The ITUC has stressed in its response that the IMF should cease promoting retrenchments to social protection, and instead give priority to enlarging the coverage of social protection and improving the adequacy of benefits, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals target 1.3 on ensuring social protection for all. The ITUC also stresses that when dealing with social protection in its policies and programmes, the IMF should ensure consistency with international labour standards and agreed international commitments, as well as ensure close consultation with social partners and civil society actors on the ground.