World Bank’s new Business-Ready (B-Ready) index offers new measures but reductionist approach, ultimately rewarding countries driving down labour rights in favour of business.
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Commentary
Private Sector
Commentary
IFC standards review must respond to UN’s call for rights-based transition mineral value chains
Amid escalating transition minerals mining, the expected 2025 review of IFC’s Performance Standards must result in a new approach.
Conditionality
Commentary
Economics is political: the IMF’s programme in Egypt can’t succeed without reforming both
More debt without tackling the political sources of Egypt’s economic problems means a deepening of the crisis.
Finance
Commentary
Better ways to reduce the pain of debt crises for developing countries?
Amid challenging global conditions, proposals to address liquidity issues must be urgently matched by a reformed, development-focused international financial architecture.
IFI governance
Commentary
A dizzying ride down the cascade of Bank and Fund double-speak in 2023
From the gentleman's agreement and carbon taxes to B-Ready and the Evolution Roadmap Playbook, the BWIs took us for another ride down the cascade of buzzwords in 2023. Join the BWP gourmets in savouring the word salad.
Land
Commentary
Ukraine's post-war agricultural recovery: Returning to the way things were is not enough
World Bank and other international financial institutions need to ensure Ukraine’s agriculture sector reforms lead to increased liquidity for smaller farms and ensure local development, environmentally sustainable investments and a transparent land market.
Finance
Commentary
Financial liberalisation, capital controls and development in Africa: The case of Uganda
Financial liberation has had a significant effect on Uganda’s economy opening the door for significant foreign ownership while facilitating the ongoing extraction of wealth.
Rights
Commentary
Civil society calls on World Bank and IMF to safeguard civic space and prevent retaliation around Marrakesh Annual Meetings
To prevent repression and retaliation at their Annual Meetings in Marrakesh, World Bank and IMF must work proactively with MENA civil society and Moroccan authorities on safeguarding civic space and upholding free speech.
Other news
Finance
Commentary
More than 150 groups call for the IMF to end its “unfair” and “counterproductive” surcharges
Over 160 civil society organizations from around the world are calling on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to end the “unfair” and “counterproductive” surcharges attached to its lending to the most heavily indebted countries. The open letter was sent to the IMF Executive Board on 7 April ahead of the 2022 IMF and World Bank’s Spring Meetings.
News
worldbankpresident.org
Blog on who should have been selected as World Bank president, what they should do and the selection process generally.
IFI governance
Commentary
Submission to the IMF and World Bank Request for Feedback on the Civil Society Policy Forum at the Spring and Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank
In the following submission, the IMF and institutions of the World Bank Group, including the…
Conditionality
Commentary
Bankspeak of the year 2015
Every year the Bretton Woods Project highlights some of the most farcical remarks of Fund and Bank staff.
IFI governance
Commentary
Protecting the voices of civil society at the World Bank and IMF meetings
Friday 2nd October, 2015 To: President Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Managing Director Christine Lagarde,…
IFI governance
Commentary
Bankspeak of the year 2014
Bankspeak of the year 2014 celebrates some of the most ridiculous public remarks of Fund and Bank staff.
IFI governance
Commentary
Learning from failures or repeating mistakes
Bretton Woods Project comment on President Jim Yong Kim's blog on Oxfam America challenges the Bank's emphasis on private sector development
Environment
Commentary
World Bank: greening an airport near you
Just a month before releasing a new report on climate change and the need to "turn down the heat" (see Update 86), the Bank agreed a $50 million loan to the Chinese prefecture of Shangrao, located in the northeast of China's Jiangxi province, to build a new airport.
