Relations between the Bank and the government of Papua New Guinea were strained in July by the government’s decision to issue bonds to raise money from the private sector.
Conditionality impacts
Conditionality
News
Social Principles limited to crisis situations
The Bank’s paper on best practices for implementing the social principles will be discussed by the Board on 10 September.
Conditionality
News
WB-IMF orthodoxy rivalled by Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), led by its new head Masaru Yoshitomi, has mounted an attack on the IMF’s use of conventional policies for dealing with the crisis in Asia and plans to hold meetings and seminars to challenge the IMF’s approach at the Bank/Fund annual meetings.
Conditionality
News
Strikers in Colombia in protest at IMF and debt
In late August Colombian labour unions began an indefinite national strike in protest at the government’s political, social, and economic agenda and calling on the government to declare a moratorium on the payment of its internal and external debt.
Conditionality
News
Bank support for social sector in Brazil an illusion
Last year the World Bank lent billions of dollars to Brazil, claiming that they would support social safety-nets during the financial crisis.
Accountability
News
Bank develops “governance indicators”
On 1 July the Bank held an informal Board seminar to discuss “governance indicators”.
Environment
Analysis
World Bank and IMF: Dilemmas and Opportunities
Are the World Bank and IMF now taking environmental and social issues seriously?
Accountability
News
Curbing corruption
IMF policies have exacerbated corruption according to a Christian Aid briefing on new approaches to debt relief.
Conditionality
News
Forest conditionality explored
A new paper from the World Resources Institute examines the World Bank’s use of adjustment lending to promote policy reform for favourable environmental outcomes.
Conditionality
News
Initiative changes
The G7 have agreed changes to the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Debt Initiative which will impose more conditionality in return for earlier relief from interest payments.
Featured briefings
5 October 2023
World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings 2023
4 October 2023
The Bretton Woods Observer: Autumn 2023
4 October 2023
The IMF and World Bank talk good governance, but walk with state- capturers
From South Africa to Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, the Bank and Fund have demonstrated they are not appropriate allies to address the scale of the crisis the world is facing, especially, given their record.