What roles should twenty first century international financial institutions (IFIs) play, and how should they be structured? This paper sets out some of the key issues that would need to be resolved at a second UN monetary and financial conference - a 'Bretton Woods 2' - and discusses the road ahead.
Analysis
Conditionality
Analysis
The World Bank, the IFC and the antecedents of the financial crisis
The financial crisis seemed to come out of the blue, but Paulo dos Santos of the University of London argues that the ground was laid by financial sector privatisation, liberalisation and deregulation. Far from these trends being confined to the rich world, the World Bank and the IFC have played a key role in pushing these policies throughout emerging markets, exposing them to the fallout of the financial crisis.
Finance
Analysis
Africa and the making of adjustment
Development economist and professor of African studies Howard Stein examines the evolution of policy in the Bank, focusing on how economists became hegemonic. In this essay he details the origin of structural adjustment, tracing its roots back to a set of neoliberal economists who gained influence at the Bank in the late 1970s.
Accountability
Analysis
The IMF's regressive secret
While tax policy and reform is an election battleground in developed countries, the IMF has increasingly turned it into a secret technocratic exercise in developing countries. This briefing examines the IMF's involvement in providing advice on tax policy, particularly its recommendations for the imposition of value added taxes (VATs).
Infrastructure
Analysis
Facilitating whose power? WB and IMF policy influence in Nigeria's energy sector
Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the World Bank's energy portfolio still fails to reap the double dividend of renewable energy technologies that would tackle both energy poverty and climate change. Nigerian economic policies shaped by World Bank and IMF recommendations, policy agreements and conditionality have so far lead to a dysfunctional electricity privatisation process, a heavy and as yet unfulfilled reliance on reform of the gas sector, and the failure to make any widespread practical pr
Environment
Analysis
Is the Bank's carbon markets approach an effective way to address climate change?
The World Bank's involvement in the carbon market is under hot debate: Janet Redman from the Institute for Policy Studies opposes its approach while Jon Sohn, from Climate Change Capital argues that there is a role for the Bank to play.
Accountability
Analysis
The IFIs in 2007: year in review
2007 will certainly go down in the annals of the IFIs as an annus horribilis. But a bad year for the IFIs has meant a relatively good year for developing country policy space.
Private Sector
Analysis
The International Finance Corporation: Behind the rhetoric
There is evidence that the IFC's financing of small and medium enterprises, almost all of which occurs via financial intermediaries, is under-supervised, and that direct lending is still focused on large companies in emerging market economies with questionable value-added.
IFI governance
Analysis
Double majority decision making at the IMF
Many have championed the use of double majorities at the IMF board in order to increase the ability of developing countries to influence decision making. The acceptance of this idea by incoming IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn is welcome, but if he chooses to use a chair-based, rather than member-state-based, second majority it will not change the power dynamics at the board.
Accountability
Analysis
Transparency at the IMF
A guide for civil society on getting access to information from the IMF
IFI governance
Analysis
Reform of World Bank governance structures
This analytical note discusses potential governance reforms in the World Bank's governance structures, with an understanding that some reforms become more or less imperative depending on the direction of the discussions around the long-term strategic direction of the Bank.
Finance
Analysis
Programme conditions, project safeguards: Quo vadis World Bank?
This briefing clarifies the landscape of programme conditions and project safeguards and what it implies for a move towards responsible lending standards.
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The lost call for international financial architecture reform in the G20
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.