In mid-October the IMF board considered the next in a series of policy papers defining the Fund’s role in low-income countries, but the board was divided on whether the institution should commit more resources (meaning staff time) to work in poor countries
Aid
Finance
News
Less carrot, more stick please
As negotiations close over donations to the World Bank's financing arm for low income countries, civil society groups have expressed disappointment over the failure to make progress on conditionality, debt sustainability, allocation or impact assessment.
Finance
Background
Macroeconomic aspects of aid scaling up and the role of the Fund
Highlights of a 21 October discussion on the macroeconomics of aid scaling up at the World Bank-IMF annual meetings 2007.
Conditionality
Background
Wage bill ceilings, fiscal and monetary policies and absorbing aid inflows - updates and next steps
Highlights of a 20 October discussion on the the IMF's fiscal and monetary policy advice and conditionality for low-income countries at the World Bank-IMF annual meetings 2007.
Finance
Background
Seminar on the new aid architecture in health: the way forward
Highlights of a seminar on the new aid architecture in health as part of the Programme of Seminars on 19 October at the World Bank-IMF annual meetings 2007.
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.
IFI governance
News
Questioning the IFC's impact "without embarrassment"
In August, the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) released its evaluation of the development results of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), finding that of the 627 projects surveyed, 59 per cent are claimed to have achieved a high development rating.
Finance
News
Fund loosens the aid noose … but just a little
After reviews of its engagement with low-income members the IMF is in the process of redesigning its programmes, but its recent changes on dealing with aid inflows have not satisfied critics of the Fund's inflexibility in allowing the scaling up of social spending.
Finance
Background
Growth Commission case studies unveiled
As a key part of its remit, the Commission on Growth and Development has identified twenty areas it deems crucial 'to furthering our understanding of long-term sustainable economic growth and development'.
IFI governance
News
UK Treasury to focus on IMF surveillance reform in 2007
In its annual report to parliament about the UK and the IMF, this year subtitled "Reform to delivery prosperity for all", the UK Treasury's most ambitious goal for 2007 is to revise the IMF's surveillance framework. While also setting out to build on the proposals for governance reform of the IMF, the report does not prioritise creating an open and merit-based process for selecting the managing director of the IMF, overhauling the transparency policy at the Fund, or grappling with the issue of w
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Tip of the iceberg: How the call for SDRs reveals the urgency for deeper reforms of the global reserve system to address systemic inequalities
Renewed calls for a substantial SDR allocation raise urgency of reforming the inequitable global reserve ‘non-system’.