Seminar at the Spring meetings 2012, 19 April 12
Conditionality impacts
Finance
Background
How can the IMF enhance its focus on growth and poverty reduction in LICS?
A civil society meeting held at the World Bank and the IMF hold their 2012 spring meetings in Washington DC on Friday 20th April.
Accountability
Background
Development Policy Lending (DPL) Retrospective consultation
Minutes meeting, Washington DC, 18 April 2012
Accountability
Background
UK civil society meeting UK IMF Executive Director Alex Gibbs
Notes of a meeting with UK executive director to the IMF Alex Gibbs in April 2012
Conditionality
News
Egypt to agree IMF loan despite opposition
Egypt's interim government announced in February that they expect to sign a $3.2 billion loan deal with the IMF and state-media reported that negotiations are underway for a $1 billion loan from the World Bank.
Conditionality
Analysis
IMF policy recommendations
IMF policy recommendations are often criticised for being too restrictive, procyclical and paying little attention to country-specific circumstances. In the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, the Fund showed some policy rethinking, bringing about expectations of change. However, Rathin Roy and Raquel A. Ramos of the UNDP Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth analyse IMF policy recommendations given to developing countries and conclude that headquarters' receptiveness to new approaches has not been trans
Accountability
News
Green light for revised PforR, but concerns remain
The World Bank board has approved the controversial new Program-for-Results (PforR) lending instrument, with some concessions to criticism.
Social services
News
World Bank loans linked to child mortality
A June 2011 academic paper that analysed health outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa found that "when a country is under a World Bank structural adjustment loan it tends to have higher levels of child mortality".
Social services
Commentary
IMF from Argentina to Greece: similar but different
The economic crisis in Argentina in 2001 and Greece today share both similarities and differences, so we should be wary of stretching the comparison.
Conditionality
News
IMF in a euromess?
The IMF responds to calls from European leaders to get more involved in the European debt crisis through greater lending to the region, however, the austerity policies being demanded are stoking further criticism from civil society organisations.
Featured briefings
1 October 2024
Year one of World Bank Paris Agreement alignment in the energy sector: ‘green conditionality’ dwarfs green investments
New BWP research finds the Word Bank's approach to Paris alignment is being used to a significant extent to impose ‘green conditionalities' on borrowing countries, especially in the Global South.
3 July 2024
The Bretton Woods Observer: Summer 2024
3 July 2024
Is the World Bank rolling back commitments to citizen engagement, again?
Understanding the Bank’s chequered history with public, community and civil society participation is key for understanding what is at stake and what to do next.