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”.
World Bank Group
IFI governance
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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
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Stiglitz questions outdated “Washington consensus”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.
IFI governance
News
World Bank Plans Profitable CO2 Trading
The Kyoto climate change meeting in December brought together ministers from 160 countries to agree binding restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.
IFI governance
News
UK White Paper Suggestions
The UK Government’s White Paper on International Development, launched in November, made excellent statements about focussing more firmly on poverty and the environment but lacked detail on specific policy targets for the World Bank and IMF.
IFI governance
News
IFC reviews roll off the production line
Largely due to the persistent efforts of NGOs and some Executive Directors, the International Finance Corporation (IFC-a private sector support arm of the World Bank Group) has unveiled a series of reviews and new initiatives.
Social services
News
Mozambican groups criticise CAS consultation
Civil society organisations in Mozambique have reacted angrily to the lack of civil society participation in the preparation of the Bank’s latest Country Assistance Strategy (CAS).
Finance
News
IDA Discussions Start
Paula Donovan, the World Bank staff member in charge of raising funds for the Bank’s soft loan arm the International Development Association (IDA), has undertaken a series of meetings designed to reassure parliamentarians and NGOs.
Conditionality
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Trigger conditions explained
A country assistance strategy (CAS) identifies “high”, “base” and “low” case lending scenarios - which one a country initially receives depends on its economic prospects.
IFI governance
News
Forest Policy Reviews
The World Bank has agreed to carry out a forest policy implementation review followed by a Forest Sector Strategy review over the next few months.
