While NGO Oxfam criticised the IMF for failing to learn lessons of the past in its approach to European austerity, IMF research on inequality produced findings opposite to IMF programme demands for borrowers.
East Asia & Pacific
Environment
Commentary
Dr Kim, where is Mongolia's economic diversification?
In late February the World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) boards decided to spearhead a $4 billion dollar syndicated loan to a copper, gold and silver mine located in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. An increasing number of people believe that it is going to lead Mongolia to dependence on one product and one corporation, driving the country into deep insecurity.
Accountability
News
World Bank moves on 'land grabs'
In April World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said that the Bank shares the concerns "about the risks associated with large-scale land acquisitions" and that "additional efforts must be made to build capacity and safeguards related to land rights".
Accountability
News
Thai CSOs walk out of FCPF process
In mid April four independent advisers to the UN urged that all of the World Bank's activities should be included in the Bank's safeguards review to ensure consistency with international human rights standards.
Environment
Commentary
World Bank: greening an airport near you
Just a month before releasing a new report on climate change and the need to "turn down the heat" (see Update 86), the Bank agreed a $50 million loan to the Chinese prefecture of Shangrao, located in the northeast of China's Jiangxi province, to build a new airport.
Accountability
News
Indrawati under investigation over Indonesian banking scandal
In early May, World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati answered questions from the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission in relation to a 6.7 trillion rupiah ($675 million) 2008 bailout of Bank Century.
IFI governance
News
Six in a row: another Japanese national appointed to head MIGA
World Bank president Jim Yong Kim announced the appointment of Keiko Honda as executive vice president of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency in late March, the sixth Japanese national in a row to hold the post.
Infrastructure
News
Resettlement concerns in China
Tens of thousands of people in China are facing resettlement as a result of flood management, lake basin and urban infrastructure projects approved for World Bank funding in late March.
Finance
News
IMF accused of anti-China bias
The IMF's Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) published a late December evaluation that was critical of IMF concerns and advice relating to international reserves, especially the accumulation by countries of large quantities of US dollar assets.
Accountability
News
ICSID billion dollar cases prompt criticism
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an arm of
Finance
Commentary
Hastily introduced World Bank projects threaten to undermine peace process in Burma
In late 2012 the World Bank announced its first lending to Burma in over 20 years. The concern among many grassroots activists, however, is that the areas to which this money will be funnelled are still in the earliest stages of the peace process, and that huge influxes of money will undermine efforts for sustainable peace.
Accountability
News
IFC's Oyu Tolgoi mine prompts complaint
In October, Mongolian herdsmen took a complaint to the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman, the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) accountability mechanism, against the Oyu Tolgoi mine being considered for World Bank support.
