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Bretton Woods Update 11

  • Dec 1998
  • Past Issues

IFI governance

News

Greening the Bank: next steps

15 December 1998

In September over 50 NGOs from 15 countries made recommendations to the World Bank on the environment.

Infrastructure

News

Conflict of interest in Bank energy initiatives

A new briefing from the Institute for Policy Studies highlights the Bank’s reluctance to take decisive action on climate change.

15 December 1998

Environment

News

New social code in response to “human tragedy”

Leaders are at last recognising the extent of the human crisis caused by the financial crash and failure of the growth process to deliver socially sustainable development.

15 December 1998

Finance

News

Citizens groups set out 6 point alternative plan

Leading non-governmental thinkers and advocates met in Ottawa in parallel with the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ meeting to discuss financial crises and the needs of the world’s most vulnerable and poorest people.

15 December 1998

Finance

News

Scaffolding for global architecture

In late October the G7 took limited steps to strengthen the international financial architecture, after the World Bank-IMF annual meetings ended with a plethora of proposals but no substantive agreement.

15 December 1998

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Advocacy Programs

  • Environmental advocacy
  • Financialisation & Human Rights Project
  • Gender Equality & Macroeconomics Project
  • Strengthening Accountability in the Global Economy Project

World Bank & IMF in the news

Finance

News

15 December 1998

ESAF-HIPC Link Attacked

Mr Jagdeo, Guayanese Finance Minister, has attacked the IMF for its lack of commitment to debt reduction and using the HIPC Initiative as a means of forcing countries to comply with ESAF programmes.

IFI governance

News

15 December 1998

Bank Uganda video available

A two-part TV programme giving a behind the scenes look at World Bank/IMF negotiations in Uganda has just been screened in the UK.

Knowledge

News

15 December 1998

Poverty WDR virtual consultations

In September the World Bank organised an electronic consultation on its planned poverty World Development Report, due out October 2000.

Knowledge

News

15 December 1998

Globalization and institutions: the Bank aims to set agenda

The World Bank’s World Development Report for next year will tackle the thorny questions of which institutions can direct economic, social and environmental policies in an age of globalization.

IFI governance

News

15 December 1998

Indian groups debate World Bank state level adjustment

Andra Pradesh, India, has been the testing ground for a precedent-setting

Social services

News

15 December 1998

Social policy limitations

Bob Deacon, Director of the Globalization and Social Policy Programme (based in Sheffield and Helsinki) criticised the World Bank’s stand on social policy at a recent Overseas Development Institute discussion meeting in London.

IFI governance

News

15 December 1998

MPs’ committee to Washington

The UK parliamentary committee on international development travelled to Washington in early November to interview World Bank, IMF and NGO staff.

Accountability

News

15 December 1998

New Bank fraud hotline

The World Bank Group has set up a telephone hotline to provide a central point for reporting allegations of fraud and corruption.

Knowledge

News

15 December 1998

New Bank paradigm: Stiglitz and Fine approaches clash

In October World Bank Chief Economist Joe Stiglitz made another major speech going “beyond the well-documented failures of the Washington consensus to begin providing the foundations of an alternative paradigm”.

IFI governance

News

15 December 1998

The future of NGO World Bank strategy discussed

In October the Bank Information Center held a strategy meeting for 80 people from NGOs and foundations concerned about the World Bank.

Land

News

15 December 1998

Mexico project reveals Bank planning, supervision failings

A detailed paper by Trasparencia traces the history and execution of the Mexican Rainfed Areas Development Project.

Infrastructure

News

15 December 1998

Chad-Cameroon pipeline appeal for support

Cameroonian and Chadian groups are appealing for support during the last few crucial months before the World Bank decides whether to support the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline project.

Social services

News

15 December 1998

Kyrgz mine spill lessons

A serious cyanide spill at an IFC- and MIGA-backed mine this May raises questions about the Bank Group environmental procedures for mines.

Social services

News

15 December 1998

Safety-nets: too little too late

The World Bank has been criticised for taking too long to implement its safety-net programmes in Indonesia, and for failing to ensure that public works benefit the most needy.

Finance

News

15 December 1998

IMF Articles change on hold

Action to change the IMF’s Articles of Agreement to extend the Fund’s purview to cover capital account liberalisation has been put on hold since the financial crisis.

Rights

News

15 December 1998

IFC policies confirmed

The International Finance Corporation has finalised its rewording of the Bank’s social and environmental policies to fit its clientele and business cycle, and many of the policies are about to be signed off by the Board.

Knowledge

News

15 December 1998

Green accounting debate in crucial stage

For about a decade the World Bank has made occasional statements that countries should move away from orthodox national accounts and integrate environmental and social costs and benefits.

IFI governance

News

15 December 1998

New criticisms of the Bank’s resettlement record

A new official report has criticised the Bank’s record in overseeing the resettlement of people displaced by projects it supports.

IFI governance

News

15 December 1998

Partnerships action

The World Bank has finished consultations on its partnership initiative to “put committed governments and their people at the centre of the development process” and agreed some action steps for the next few months.

Knowledge

News

15 December 1998

Major new Bank report on aid

A major new Policy Research Report by the Bank argues that it is pointless to provide aid money to countries unless they have certain economic policies and a good institutional environment.

IFI governance

News

15 December 1998

IMF looks to hire PR firm

The IMF has decided to hire a new public relations firm to bolster its battered image.

News

15 December 1998

IMF forecasts in doubt again

Just two weeks after it published its “World Economic Outlook” in September the Fund admitted some of its figures were out of date and would have to be revised downward.

Accountability

News

15 December 1998

IFC new ombudsman, consultation document

The IFC is appointing an environmental and social compliance ombudsman to monitor implementation of environmental and social policies.

Conditionality

News

15 December 1998

ESAF reviews latest

NGOs’ comments on the findings and recommendations of the ESAF reviews will be published and discussed by the Board soon.

Conditionality

News

15 December 1998

Brazil stabilisation means cuts for key donor projects

The IMF with multilateral banks and other donors has agreed a $41bn package to help Brazil fend off international currency speculators.

Accountability

News

15 December 1998

Controversial Brazil eviction project budget slashed

Last year the Brazilian government narrowly managed to persuade the World Bank’s Board not to send its Inspection Panel to investigate the Itaparica hydroelectric project, subject of controversy over the forced eviction of 40,000 people.

WB/IMF roles

News

15 December 1998

Bank is “not the IMF”

Bank President James Wolfensohn spent much of the Bank Annual Meeting distancing his institution from its sibling, insisting that it is not a “second level IMF” and does not provide bail-out funds.

Conditionality

News

15 December 1998

WB/IMF collaboration plans

In response to the external ESAF Review, the World Bank is to collaborate with the IMF in pilot projects in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Tajikistan, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Zimbabwe over the next 12-18 months.

IFI governance

News

15 December 1998

Transparency

The G7 has agreed to the G22 Working Group on Transparency and Accountability’s recommendation to establish a formal mechanism to evaluate IMF policies and programmes, but it is not clear what form this will take.

More news

Featured briefings

Wind Farm in desert near Hurghada, Egypt. Photo: MaguedM/Shutterstock
9 June 2025

New data reveal World Bank DPF ‘climate finance’ carries strong private sector bias, undermining a just transition

New BWP briefing finds the World Bank counted 70 per cent of energy-sector reforms in Development Policy Financing as having 'climate co-benefits' between 2018-2023 - but most of these promoted a private-led energy transition.

Cover of the Bretton Woods Observer Spring 2025
15 April 2025

The Bretton Woods Observer: Spring 2025

2 April 2025

World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings 2025

More briefings

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