Sub-Saharan Africa

Environment

News

Resilience and Sustainability Trust’s first loans promote climate PPPs, raising concerns they may create fiscal risks

Initial financing for Costa Rica, Barbados, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Jamaica tied to efforts to ‘green’ PPP frameworks.

5 April 2023

Private Sector

News

World Bank’s financial inclusion agenda blind to growing gendered over-indebtedness

The World Bank’s financial inclusion agenda in time of cost-of-living crisis, austerity and financialisation promotes indebtedness of the poor, especially women.

5 April 2023

Finance

News

Between a rock and a hard place: How can IMF provide support amidst debt restructure deadlock?

IMF’s lending into arrears policy can be a way to break out of the debt restructure deadlock and provide the much-needed financing for countries in debt distress.

5 April 2023

Infrastructure

Analysis

World Bank and IMF influence casts shadow over South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership

World Bank’s support for fossil fuel projects, including problem-riddled Medupi coal power station, leaves its reputation in tatters with South African civil society.

8 December 2022

Infrastructure

News

MIGA’s support for gas projects raises concerns about its climate credentials

World Bank’s commercial insurance arm provided nearly $850 million in guarantees for gas projects in Bangladesh and Mozambique in fiscal year 2022.

5 April 2023

Finance

News

Chad gets debt rescheduling, not relief, and is left dependent on oil revenues

Chad has reached an agreement to restructure its nearly $3 billion of external debt, unlocking IMF financing, but the deal has been criticised for failing to reduce the country’s overall debt burden.

8 December 2022

Rights

News

A new SDR allocation: Combatting deepening fragility concerns

The links between high debt burdens, lack of climate finance, austerity and the rise in political instability and fragility, conflict and violence remain largely neglected as IMF shareholders consider calls for a new SDR allocation, as proposed by the Bridgetown Agenda.

8 December 2022

IFI governance

Analysis

V20 communiqué analysis Annual Meetings 2022: Climate vulnerable countries call for debt relief and a revamped IMF

The finance ministers for the Vulnerable Group of Twenty, a bloc of 58 developing country economies representing some 1.5 billion people, issued a communiqué on 16 October.

19 October 2022

IFI governance

Background

Implications of financial deepening for inequality and its impact on gender, poverty, and marginalization

Notes from a Civil Society Policy Forum panel on 14 October 2022 titled "Implications of financial deepening for inequality and its impact on gender, poverty, and marginalization."

14 October 2022 | Minutes

IFI governance

Background

Greening whole economies? Unpacking World Bank plans for Paris alignment by July 2023

Notes from a Civil Society Policy Forum event on 14 October titled "Greening whole economies? Unpacking World Bank plans for Paris alignment by July 2023."

14 October 2022 | Minutes

IFI governance

Background

Coup d'états and political instability: The roles of national, regional, and international actors

Notes from a Civil Society Policy Forum on 12 October titled: "Coup d'états and political instability: The roles of national, regional, and international actors."

12 October 2022 | Minutes

Finance

Analysis

IMF debt sustainability analysis in times of compounding crises: Still unfit for purpose

New IMF debt sustainability framework fails to alleviate concerns over transparency and overoptimism in midst of large-scale debt crisis, as countries face severe austerity and private lenders wait for bailouts.

4 October 2022