The UK all-party committee on international development held its evidence session on the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF in October, with evidence heard from the Bretton Woods Project and the Rainforest Foundation, secretary of state for international development Hilary Benn, and representatives of the Treasury.
Conditionality impacts
IFI governance
News
OED slates Bank development effectiveness
In October, the Operations Evaluation Department published a report summarising lessons from recent evaluations; Bank management, in unusually strong language, has expressed concerns about both the methodology OED used to reach its conclusions, and the conclusions themselves.
Accountability
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World Bank anti-corruption: discourse versus practice
A new report from corruption watchdog Transparency International indicates that despite improved efforts by the World Bank on corruption ahead of other regional development banks, there is still a striking inconsistency between the discourse and practice of the Bank. A new US anti-corruption bill and an oil revenue agreement with Chad are the latest tests.
Accountability
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IFI ‘aid for trade’ carrot ahead of Hong Kong trade summit
Details of the BWIs aid for trade package were unveiled at the annual meetings, as officials turned up the pressure to reach a deal at the upcoming trade summit in Hong Kong.
Finance
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Roundtable on aid effectiveness
Highlights of a roundtable on aid effectiveness with Sebastien Mallaby, Washington Post columnist, Steve Radelet, CGD, Saifur Rahman, Bangladeshi minister of finance, and Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, Ugandan central bank governor.
Conditionality
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IMF mission creep continues in low-income countries
Highlights of a meeting where IMF staff outlined plans for a new facility for countries experiencing 'exogenous shocks', a new 'policy support instrument' to signal policy quality of non-borrowers, and reviewed the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, the Fund's lending vehicle for low-income countries.
Conditionality
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Bank policies for growth have failed
A meeting hosted by ActionAid, Christian Aid and the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)…
Trade
News
A bottom-line perspective on the Doha development agenda
Highlights of a joint World Bank-IMF-civil society session, where NGOs and the Bank and Fund debated IFI plans to support the WTO Doha round of trade negotiations.
Social services
News
IMF accused of exacerbating famine in Niger
The IMF's external relations department has spent the last two months furiously rebuffing charges that the Fund has exacerbated famine in Niger. The debate centres around the impact of structural adjustment measures and accusations that donors initially refused to allow the government to distribute free food to affected areas.
Social services
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IMF conditions blocks achievement of goals in education, health
Two papers by ActionAid International, released at the UN Millennium Review Summit in New York in September, point the finger at the IMF for blocking achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
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IMF surveillance and climate change transition risks
New briefing by ActionAid USA and the Bretton Woods Project highlights research showing that IMF policy advice has undermined a just energy transition since the Paris Agreement was signed.