Bank President James Wolfensohn has announced a new initiative which aims to balance economic with non-economic analysis and enable real participation and transparency in drawing up country strategies.
World Bank Group
Knowledge
News
Bank suggests hedge funds for developing country commodities
The World Bank has predicted that global commodity prices are unlikely to rise following the impacts of the world financial crisis, and is considering how developing countries could reduce harmful price fluctuation in these markets.
IFI governance
News
Bolivian NGOs angry at misrepresentation
Key Bolivian NGOs feel that Wolfensohn has misrepresented the Bolivian National Dialogue (carried out in 1997) and subsequent process as a model for other countries to follow.
Knowledge
News
South Africans expose Stiglitz “illusion”
In January, some 50 South African civil society activists challenged World Bank Chief Economist Joe Stiglitz in Johannesburg, concluding that his responses “shattered the illusion that the World Bank is undergoing fundamental transformation”.
Conditionality
News
Bank reforms leading to “social disaster” in Sri Lanka
MONLAR, a network of Sri Lankan people’s organisations, has written to the World Bank pointing out that social and equity issues have been overlooked, and democracy has been infringed in its pursuit of structural adjustment in Sri Lanka.
News
Surveys show tough views on Bank and Fund
Respondents to two recent surveys revealed widespread continuing mistrust of Bank and Fund approaches.
Conditionality
News
Selectivity: conditionality by any other name
Government officials met the World Bank in March to discuss new criteria for allocating its IDA (soft loan) resources among countries.
IFI governance
News
World Bank outlines plans for more active European engagement
The Bank’s new Vice President for Europe, Jean-Francois Rischard aims to increase the Bank’s engagement with European NGOs and academics.
Knowledge
News
Early fears of mass Indonesian poverty “unfounded”, says Bank
The worst fears of massive increases in poverty in Indonesia are “unfounded” according to a report by the World Bank, which draws on 3 new surveys on the social implications of the financial crisis.
Private Sector
News
Confusion about WB private sector review
Government officials who negotiated contributions to the Bank’s IDA 12 lending window agreed with the Bank that “a clear private sector development strategy should be established for the World bank Group during the course of 1999 to guide the work of the IBRD, IDA, IFC and MIGA”.
Social services
News
Indonesian safety nets condemned
The coordination, coverage and targetting of public works schemes in Indonesia, part of the Bank’s safety-net programme, has been poor, and resources have been diverted for other uses.
Accountability
News
Corporate lobbying at the Bank exposed
A recent article in the Legal Times alleges that there is significant corporate lobbying of the World Bank.
