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.
Trade-finance coherence
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.
Trade
News
Fund economists whistle different trade tune
In two recent papers, Fund economists have questioned the institution's strict adherence to the free trade doctrine.
Accountability
News
G8 cancellation of World Bank, IMF debt: "step forward"
Finance ministers of the world's richest countries agreed to write off $40 to $55 billion of debts owed to the World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank. Statements on aid effectiveness and trade in the final communiqu
Trade
News
IFIs on trade: “enormous investment” but to what end?
The World Bank's international trade unit presented a progress report to the board in early March describing an enormous increase in investment in trade-related analysis which it is now looking to translate in to new lending - a serious concern for analysts who feel the Bank and Fund have got it wrong on trade.
Land
News
Bank on agricultural trade: export strategy “impoverishing”
The latest World Bank publication on agricultural trade finds that a "development strategy based on agricultural commodity exports is likely to be impoverishing in the current policy environment".
Trade
News
Bankspeak of the year 2004
2004 was a bumper year for new acronyms from the masters of the art form. But three new outstanding additions deserve special mention.
Trade
News
Report on investment “promotes interests of the north”
Researchers at the Geneva-based South Centre have argued that the Bank's latest World Development Report, oversells the benefits of foreign direct investment, advocates the restriction of government policy space, and promotes the agenda of northern countries in trade and investment agreements.
Trade
News
Bank trade hymn out of tune once again
Pouring cold water on a progressive trade proposal from the EU, the Bank's trade director has once again crossed the boundary from advocacy into ideology.
Trade
News
Parliamentarians’ trade working group
On 20 April, the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank launched a working group on international trade.
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16 October 2024
The Bretton Woods Observer: Autumn 2024
16 October 2024
The lost call for international financial architecture reform in the G20
At the 80th anniversary of the World Bank and IMF, global civil society must maintain pressure on the Brazilian and South African G20 presidencies to ensure the forth Financing for Development Conference in 2025 results in urgently required international financial architecture reform.