Heated debate is brewing between the US government which proposes that the Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) should provide up to 50 per cent of its resources as grants and some European governments (supported by the Bank) who argue that to do so would deplete IDA’s resources.
Debt
Conditionality
News
Argentina to be sacrificed on free-market altar?
In August, Argentinian teachers, doctors and public workers went on strike and unemployed workers and students blocked roads to protest against rising unemployment and cuts in pensions and salaries.
Finance
News
African leaders speak out against donors
At a forum in Lagos Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo accused the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and creditor nations of being unfair to developing countries trying to repay crippling external debts, reports Reuters (17/5/01).
Finance
News
IMF and WB wanted for fraud
Protesters carrying placards proclaiming “Africa Needs Liberation Not Charity” and “the Debt is a Fraud” gathered outside World Bank offices in London on 26 May to mark African Liberation Day.
Finance
News
Reality check on debt
A new report from Drop the Debt argues that the World Bank and IMF can afford to cancel in full the debts of the poorest countries without putting at risk their finances.
Rights
News
Financial crises and global slowdown capture IMF-World Bank spring meetings agenda
The global economic slowdown and donor countries’ differing views on what to do about it, pushed issues related to the world’s poorest nations to the sidelines of public debate on this year’s spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
Finance
News
PRSP case studies report
A new report summarises some of the continued challenges for participatory poverty reduction processes.
Finance
News
Africans query World Bank, IMF governance mantra
A week-long “listening tour” brought World Bank President James Wolfensohn and IMF Managing Director Horst K
Finance
News
Social legacy of Indonesia’s crisis
A new pamphlet from UNICEF details the social legacy of Indonesia’s financial crisis.
Finance
News
Health policy attacked
The People’s Health Conference 2000 criticized the World Bank’s health policies for being “anti-Third World”.
Featured briefings
12 December 2024
The Bretton Woods Observer: Winter 2024
12 December 2024
Missing in action: accountability is noticeably absent from the World Bank Group’s new Corporate Scorecard
The Corporate Scorecard’s accountability gap is symptomatic of a broader failure on the part of the WBG to fully internalise, integrate and learn from the work of its accountability mechanisms.
16 October 2024