15 March 1999
Bank President James Wolfensohn has announced a new initiative which aims to balance economic with non-economic analysis and enable real participation and transparency in drawing up country strategies.
Key Bolivian NGOs feel that Wolfensohn has misrepresented the Bolivian National Dialogue (carried out in 1997) and subsequent process as a model for other countries to follow.
The worst fears of massive increases in poverty in Indonesia are “unfounded” according to a report by the World Bank, which draws on 3 new surveys on the social implications of the financial crisis.
There is danger that the aims and scope of the social principles (formerly the Social Code), which was proposed by Gordon Brown as a fourth pillar of the new international architecure, will be watered down to become simply a framework for the Bank’s social policy.
The World Bank has predicted that global commodity prices are unlikely to rise following the impacts of the world financial crisis, and is considering how developing countries could reduce harmful price fluctuation in these markets.
At the 80th anniversary of the World Bank and IMF, global civil society must maintain pressure on the Brazilian and South African G20 presidencies to ensure the forth Financing for Development Conference in 2025 results in urgently required international financial architecture reform.
Multilateral development banks can reduce their dependence on hard currency lending and make local currency financing a central element of their developmental mandate.
