Bretton Woods
Update 13
Bank health loans fail check-up
The World Bank’s Operations Evaluation Unit recently criticised Bank loans for Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP).
Bank study finds adjustment impact studies inadequate
A leaked May 1999 draft Bank review of structural and sectoral adjustment loans severely criticises their treatment of environmental and social issues.
CASE studies start
The Bank’s Environment Department is working with its country teams to develop “best practice” on greening Country Assistance Strategies (CASs).
Indonesian farmers criticise Bank project
The Yayasan Duta Awam Foundation (YDA) has conducted a 15 month grassroots investigation of the Bank-financed Integrated Swamps Development Project.
Chad-Cameroon discussions reach peak
The Bank is due to decide in the next few weeks whether to support the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline.
New report on problems with forest policy reform
The World Rainforest Movement and Environmental Defense Fund have produced a briefing on the World Bank’s Forest Policy Review and Strategy Development process.
Gender policy paper progress
Next year the World Bank will produce a Policy Research Report (PRR) on Gender Development.
IMF voting reform examined
A small committee has been set up to investigate whether to reform the IMF’s formula for allocating votes between countries on its Board.
Forest conditionality explored
A new paper from the World Resources Institute examines the World Bank’s use of adjustment lending to promote policy reform for favourable environmental outcomes.
Initiative changes
The G7 have agreed changes to the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Debt Initiative which will impose more conditionality in return for earlier relief from interest payments.
Instituting IMF evaluation
Two more external evaluations of the IMF’s activities are about to be completed.
WDR to tackle trade, finance, global environment
The World Bank’s 1999/2000 World Development Report, due for release in September, will contain much material of interest to NGOs working on international policy issues.
Curbing corruption
IMF policies have exacerbated corruption according to a Christian Aid briefing on new approaches to debt relief.
IMF transparency improved
The IMF has outlined a new information policy.
World Bank appoints senior policy compliance advisor
The World Bank Group has appointed the first IFC/MIGA Compliance Advisor/Ombudsperson.
Implementing the Bank’s new “Comprehensive Framework”
The Bank has established a secretariat to coordinate work on the Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF), the initiative on donor coordination and integrated analysis launched in January.
ESAF reforms to focus on poverty eradication
Clare Short, UK Secretary of State for International Development, has called in parliament for the reform of the IMF’s ESAF loans to make them pro-poor.
MIGA policies finalised
In May the Board of Directors of MIGA, the World Bank Group’s private sector risk guarantee arm, agreed new policies and procedures.
Elections “don’t matter”: says Indonesia fund manager
Foreigners may not know much about these parties, they may not care much, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter who wins as long as the IMF and World Bank are still calling the shots.
Bolivia-Brazil Pipeline
The details of ensuring implementation of World Bank operational policies are explored in a recent report from the Bank Information Center.
Little new in IMF/WB pilots
Several of the pilot ESAF collaboration studies between the IMF and world Bank are in trouble, and new countries may need to be selected.
Bank hires UK corporate governance expert
This summer Anne Simpson will leave Pensions and Investment Research Consultants to develop the World Bank’s corporate governance strategy for the private sector.
Indonesian NGOs criticise safety net, oppose new loans
In response to concerns that ruling party Golkar would misuse World Bank funds for election purposes, the Bank and IMF agreed in May to put new loans into a special Bank of Indonesia account.
Board approves Inspection Panel changes
In late April, after a contentious internal review, the World Bank Board approved changes to its Inspection Panel, the forum for citizen complaints about Bank-financed projects that harm people and the environment.
Research chief slammed for WTO role
NGOs at the WTO High Level Symposium on Trade and Development in March signed a statement expressing outrage at the way that Paul Collier (Director, Development Research Group, World Bank) chaired the session on “Linkages between trade and development policies”.
Absolute poverty rising: targets doubtful
New World Bank estimates suggest that 1.5bn people live in abject poverty, up from 1.
Brazilian land claim fails
Brazilian NGOs’ Panel claim with the Panel about the C
Daily Bank press listings
To keep in touch with world press coverage of the World Bank, you can subscribe to the World Bank External Affairs Department’s free daily email Development News clippings service.
New Bank wisdom on economic crises
The Bank has identified 5 main ways in which macroeconomic crises affect the poor.
Poverty project endangers Tibetans
In early June the World Bank rushed to defend the proposed China Western Poverty Project from charges that it would disrupt the lives of ethnic Tibetans and had undergone too limited environmental scrutiny.
Energy policy crunch in July
The World Bank’s energy policy paper will come to the Board on 20 July, following two and a half years of discussions.
Update error on IMF staff
The Bretton Woods Update (March 1999) reported that the 2 social advisors recently appointed to the IMF were being funded by the Department for International Development (DFID).
New IMF credit plan too harsh
The IMF’s Contingency Credit Line (CCL), agreed during the Spring meetings, will not help developing countries facing financial crisis because the qualification conditions are too demanding.
Bank specialist assesses NGO networks
Kathy Bain, Latin America civil society specialist at the World Bank, has written a draft paper on The Accountability of Trans-National NGO Networks in Policy Alliances with the World Bank.
World Bank reports on successes and future tasks
The Bank’s External Affairs team recently published a 14 page document summarising progress during Wolfensohn’s time as President.
IMF/WHO collaboration
IMF staff have met Dr Bruntland, head of the World Health Organisation, to identify mechanisms for IMF-WHO collaboration.
G7 agree crisis mechanisms
G7 finance ministers have agreed a framework to include the private sector in future crisis bailouts.
New Bank NGO chief unveils plans
This spring Willy Reuben left a Costa Rican NGO to join the World Bank as head of its NGO Unit.
Reinventing the World Bank
In May Northwestern University, Chicago, and SOAS, London, organised a meeting to examine the World Bank’s mission, operations and research output.
Bank hosts e-discussions
The World Bank has recently been inviting NGOs to engage in a large number of electronic discussions on its website “Development Forum”.
Lack of commitment for Social Principles
The Social Principles, proposed last autumn by UK Chancellor Gordon Brown as the “fourth pillar” of the international architecture, are likely to prove ineffective.
Education Now
Oxfam International (OI) has launched a new campaign, Education Now: Break the Cycle of Poverty, calling for high-quality universal primary education by 2015.