A refreshing new World Bank discussion paper frankly recognises that aid agencies are not cooperating effectively, and that mechanisms such as Consultative Groups and the Bank’s internal culture need to change.
World Bank Group
News
London information centre moves
The World Bank’s London office has transferred responsibility for providing public access to World Bank operational documents to the EMIC library at the Department of Trade and Industry, Kingsgate House, Victoria Street.
IFI governance
News
Changes at Bank NGO Unit
The World Bank is searching for a new coordinator for its NGO Unit to replace John Clarke who is moving to the Asia department to become the Focal Point for NGO relations there.
IFI governance
News
Rischard plans to raise the Bank’s European profile
Jean-Francois Rischard is moving from the Bank’s Washington office to take up the new post of Vice President for Europe.
IFI governance
News
Sibling rivalry: can the Fund and Bank cooperate?
UK Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short told the Financial Times in April: “We are in a very silly situation. The international institutions are meant to be complementary, but the IMF keeps charging around taking other peoples’ jobs in areas where it is not necessarily competent”.
IFI governance
News
Bank builds muscle to deal with crises
The Bank will spend $50m over the next two years recruiting financial sector experts for a new Special Financial Operations unit.
Knowledge
News
Stiglitz questions outdated “Washington consensus”
Giving the WIDER annual lecture in Helsinki the World Bank Chief Economist called for a…
IFI governance
News
Bank’s “new” adjustment programmes reviewed
The Bank is just completing a review of three years of "Higher Impact Adjustment Lending"…
Finance
News
Loan costs set to rise
Borrowers from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the main World Bank lending arm, may have to pay higher charges for their loans in the future.
Knowledge
News
Bulletin dissects Bank report on the State
The April 1998 Institute for Development Studies Bulletin critiques the Bank’s World Development Report, The State in a Changing World.
Knowledge
News
Knowledge report discussions
The Bretton Woods Project is about to be sent the yellow cover draft of the Bank’s 1998 World Development Report.
IFI governance
News
IFC slammed by Anthropologists Association
In April Jane Hill, President of the American Anthropological Association, wrote a strong letter to Bank Group President James Wolfensohn and Carol Lee, IFC Vice President and General Counsel.
Featured briefings
9 June 2025
New data reveal World Bank DPF ‘climate finance’ carries strong private sector bias, undermining a just transition
New BWP briefing finds the World Bank counted 70 per cent of energy-sector reforms in Development Policy Financing as having 'climate co-benefits' between 2018-2023 - but most of these promoted a private-led energy transition.
15 April 2025
The Bretton Woods Observer: Spring 2025
2 April 2025