World Bank's aid allocation may undermine growth (Bretton Woods Project)

World Bank's aid allocation may undermine growth

An article by researcher Elisa Van Waeyenberge's published by the Centre for Development Policy & Research in London criticises the way the World Bank allocates IDA funds. The Bank's aid is selectively allocated based on the use of the Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) score (see Update 52, 43). "The CPIA is derived from judgments of Bank staff on country performance on a set of macroeconomic, structural, social and governance criteria ... which embody a set of well-known neo-liberal economic norms". Better performing countries receive on average five times as much as the worst performers.

She argues that "selective allocation of aid based on the CPIA risks locking in an extensive policy agenda with ambiguous, if not adverse, repercussions for growth." Van Waeyenberge also notes that the CPIA ignores need in making aid allocations and assumes that governments have full control over policy outcomes to the neglect of external and structural issues.

Analysis casts doubt on Bank scorecard: CPIA numbers made public for first time News|Bretton Woods Project|11 September 2006|update 52|url
In June, the World Bank disclosed for the first time details of its Country Policy Institutional Assessments, but analysis by the Bretton Woods Project suggests that this costly and influential exercise is just another way to force borrowers into adopting the model of economic development supported by the Bank. read article...
The World Bank policy scorecard: The new conditionality? At Issue|Jeff Powell|22 November 2004|update 43|url
The World Bank scorecard on borrowing country policies and institutions plays a key role in the allocation of overseas development assistance. Critics argue that the scorecard is a way to coerce borrowers into adopting the Bank's preferred model of economic development. read article...