14 June 2000
In April the US General Accounting Office has produced a report on the World Bank’s anti-corruption strategy. The GAO concluded that the Bank does not have reasonable assurance that “project funds are spent as intended”. Weaknesses lie in the areas of risk assessment, supervision, and monitoring.
Although the Bank has new oversight committees and staff to monitor operations and borrower procurement and financial management practices, supervising loan disbursement remains a low priority.
At the 80th anniversary of the World Bank and IMF, global civil society must maintain pressure on the Brazilian and South African G20 presidencies to ensure the forth Financing for Development Conference in 2025 results in urgently required international financial architecture reform.
Multilateral development banks can reduce their dependence on hard currency lending and make local currency financing a central element of their developmental mandate.
