In 1997 the IFC commissioned a welcome review of its objectives following pressure from NGOs and some Executive Directors who argued that it emphasised deal-making in response to the private sector at the expense of any clear focus on poverty alleviation or environmental protection.
International
Finance
News
IDA talks climax
The World Bank is now in the advanced stages of negotiation with donor countries on funding for the next 3 years of its International Development Association soft loan funding arm.
IFI governance
News
Participation Conference
Participation experiences in 20 Bank-assisted operations will be reviewed in an international conference co-sponsored by the World Bank, to be held in Washington in November 1998.
News
WTO protests grow
The Second Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva was marked by protests in many countries.
Knowledge
News
CAS analysis improves, but still limited
The quality of Bank country assistance strategies (CASs) has improved in the last two years, concludes a recent Bank review.
IFI governance
News
Bank’s “new” adjustment programmes reviewed
The Bank is just completing a review of three years of "Higher Impact Adjustment Lending"…
Rights
News
NGO approach debated
In March the Bank Board discussed the Bank’s approach to NGOs.
IFI governance
News
Adjusting the SPA
Donor procedures and aid coordination have improved and resource flows to Sub-Saharan African countries increased under the Special Programme of Assistance for Africa (SPA), according to a recent report.
Finance
News
Loan costs set to rise
Borrowers from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the main World Bank lending arm, may have to pay higher charges for their loans in the future.
Knowledge
News
Faith meets finance
In February World Bank President James Wolfensohn met the leaders of nine religious faiths to discuss views on development.
Knowledge
News
Are the 2015 targets realistic?
A new World Bank paper asks whether and how the international development targets (formerly known as “DAC targets”) for reducing poverty and improving social and environmental indicators might be achieved.
Finance
News
J2000 mobilise 70,000
An estimated 70,000 people demonstrated in Birmingham to call on G8 leaders to cancel poor countries’ unpayable debts.
Featured briefings
6 April 2023
World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings 2023
5 April 2023
The IMF at the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The need for governance reform
As the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is time the IMF’s shareholders use the opportunities provided by the anniversary and growing calls for reforms to the international financial architecture to redesign the IMF’s governance structures and programmes to ensure they are consistent with the commitments outlined in 1948 and with international human rights law.
5 April 2023
The global financial architecture and the international debt crisis: An urgent call for reform
Influence of unreformed international financial institutions and creditor interests in debt solutions in low- and middle-income countries plagued by delay and ineffective when undertaken.