In December at an international trade union officials’ meeting in Washington, Paul Wolfowitz announced that Bank-funded public sector projects will respect core International Labour Organisation standards.
In early December the World Bank’s evaluation body released a report which found that the Bank’s growth strategies have not done enough to help the poor, and that the Bank has failed to sufficiently assess the distributional impacts of its policy recommendations.
An evaluation by a panel of self-described ‘academic superstars’ has cast doubt over the independence and reliability of World Bank research.
At the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF in Singapore, the Board of governors completed their ritualistic biannual election for seats on the executive board of the IMF and the World Bank. At the IMF seven new faces and one old one will assume the director chairs for two-year terms. At the Bank there are twelve new ED: five step up from positions as alternates while there are seven newcomers.
The IMF should implement a double majority voting system that requires the achievement of two separate majorities - one based on one-country one-vote and the other on economically weighted quotas - for any decision to be made. This paper describes this system as a state-weight double majority, reflecting the two components of the suggested approach.
The World Bank's 2008 World Development Report (WDR), to be released in October, will focus on agriculture for development.
Calls are mounting from all directions for the resignation of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, following his admission that he personally intervened in the pay rise and promotion of his girlfriend.
The IMF executive board agreed to revise the legal framework for bilateral surveillance in June with the final text incorporating many of the safeguards demanded by developing countries but still angering the Chinese.
After a six week fiasco and a three day European-US stand off Wolfowitz finally admitted defeat and resigned last night.
US president George Bush has nominated former trade representative Robert Zoellick to replace Paul Wolfowitz as World Bank president, however the Bank's board has made noises that it may not sit quietly by and allow the Americans to appoint their man.
Highlights of a 22 June 2007 meeting between UK NGOs and UK executive director to the World Bank and IMF, Tom Scholar. Issues covered included review of the Bank's transport strategy, avoided deforestation, conditionality, debt, social protection and IFI governance.
The worst crisis faced by the World Bank in over 60 years brought business to a halt for over six weeks. What really happened, what unfinished business remains, and what lessons have been learned?
New briefing by ActionAid USA and the Bretton Woods Project highlights research showing that IMF policy advice has undermined a just energy transition since the Paris Agreement was signed.
