In late July the World Bank suspended funding for the Inga 3 hydro power project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Bank approved a $73 million grant for the project in 2014, despite the US abstaining and the board noting “significant implementation risks” (see Bulletin May 2014). At the time of the suspension the Bank had disbursed approximately 6 per cent of the funding.

Rudo Sanyanga of NGO International Rivers commented that the Bank should not have been involved in the project in the first place: “Inga 3 represents a failed development model which bypasses the poor for the benefit of extractive industry and export markets”.