IFC investments in luxury hotels and shopping malls highlight projects with weak development outcomes.
East Asia & Pacific
Infrastructure
News
World Bank infrastucture support: "finance as extraction"
While India is pushing for the World Bank’s Global Infrastructure Facility, the US voted against IFC support for a Saudi Arabian corporation linked to coal power and an Inspection Panel case was registered for a Nepal power transmission project. Concerns were also raised on infrastructure projects in India, Nepal and Burma.
Rights
Commentary
Leaving behind the most vulnerable
The World Bank-funded conditional cash transfer programme in the Philippines fails to include people with disabilities, meaning they are missing out on vital support.
Finance
Analysis
The IMF’s debt restructuring dilemma
Burgeoning debt levels, and problems in Jordan and Philippines, indicate that debt crises are not behind us. While the IMF considers policy changes, an influential group of scholars has proposed a new Fund facility for handling sovereign debt restructuring.
Finance
News
IDA 17 record size, but down in real terms
The World Bank’s December 2013 claim of a record IDA replenishment was undermined by lumping donor loans in with grants and a decline in real terms, while India secured transitional support.
IFI governance
Commentary
Bankspeak of the year 2013
The Bretton Woods Project awards the most comical use of words by members of staff at the World Bank and IMF in 2013.
Finance
Analysis
The IFIs in 2013: year in review
The Bretton Woods Project review of the most important developments at the World Bank and IMF in 2013.
IFI governance
News
Calls for IMF quota reform implementation
Countries, including Russia and India, have continued to express concerns over the failure to complete the 2010 IMF quota reform.
Private Sector
Analysis
Croissants and TV guides: World Bank's new poverty reduction strategy?
IFC investments in a TV guide, hotels and online shopping highlight projects with weak development outcomes
Environment
Analysis
A mine of controversy: World Bank push for large scale extractives
New concerns have been raised on the World Bank’s involvement in the Simandou mine in Guinea, including on the use of biodiversity offsets, while civil society has repeated unaddressed concerns on the Mongolia Oyu Tolgoi mine. Further concerns have been raised on mines in Dominican Republic, Peru and South Africa.
Infrastructure
Analysis
World Bank courts controversial coal in India and Indonesia
Despite its increasingly strong rhetoric on tackling climate change the World Bank continues to fund contentious coal projects in India and Indonesia, including rejecting the findings of its accountability mechanism.
Social services
News
World Bank push for water privatisation challenged
New Bank report highlighting benefits of privatisation heavily criticised by NGOs, pointing to the impact on communities in the Philipines, left without water.
