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Bretton Woods Update 14

  • Sep 1999
  • Past Issues

Rights

News

China arrests project monitors

15 September 1999

On 15 August the Chinese Government arrested three people for trying to investigate the World Bank Western Poverty Project.

Social services

News

Bank feels heat on waste incineration

A report launched in June condemns World Bank support for medical waste incineration.

15 September 1999

IFI governance

News

New Bank environment review

The World Bank’s Operations Evaluation Department is carrying out a review of “Promoting Environmental Sustainability in Development”.

15 September 1999

Private Sector

News

WB corporate governance initiative explained

Ann Simpson, head of the World Bank’s new corporate governance initiative, explained her plans to UK NGOs in August.

15 September 1999

Accountability

News

Bank develops “governance indicators”

On 1 July the Bank held an informal Board seminar to discuss “governance indicators”.

15 September 1999

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Advocacy Programs

  • Gender Equality & Macroeconomics project
  • Environmental advocacy

World Bank & IMF in the news

Environment

News

15 September 1999

Coal mines threaten tiger corridors in India

Indian NGO INTACH has been studying the likely impact of the World Bank-supported expansion of coal mining in Bihar on wild tigers.

Rights

News

15 September 1999

Bank resettlement policy conversion

In July some NGOs received letters from Maninder Gill at the World Bank seeking comments on the proposed conversion of its Operational Directive (OD) on Resettlement.

Conditionality

News

15 September 1999

The IMF’s ESAF: is it working?

In August the IMF produced a “question and answer” paper on its Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility.

IFI governance

News

15 September 1999

Access to Bank documents under review

The Bank is about to start a review of information disclosure.

Rights

News

15 September 1999

Bank/NGO communications strategy assessed

The Bank’s NGO Unit has commissioned a needs assessment of communications strategies between the World Bank and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

IFI governance

News

15 September 1999

Forest policy review delay, IFC scrutinised

The regional consultations that will inform the World Bank’s forest policy review have had to be delayed; they will not start until February or March 2000.

Knowledge

News

15 September 1999

Globalization, urbanization, environment assessed

The Bank’s World Development Report 1999-2000, due out in mid-September, will examine globalization, localization, urbanization, and environmental change, presenting their implications for institutions and for policy.

Knowledge

News

15 September 1999

“Knowledge Bank” claims queried

The Bretton Woods Project has received copies of draft papers by two academics critically querying the World Bank’s claims to have become a “knowledge bank”.

Accountability

News

15 September 1999

Bribes by companies in Bank-funded African project

A dozen major international dam-building companies involved in the World Bank-funded Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) have lavishly bribed a top official on the project, allegedly giving nearly US$2 million in bribes over ten years.

Environment

News

15 September 1999

NGO review of Bank social assessments

US NGO grouping InterAction is reviewing Bank social assessments.

Rights

News

15 September 1999

Civil society engagement in Consultative Groups

UK NGO Christian Aid has begun a research project on the role of civil society groups in Consultative Group and Round Table donor coordination and planning bodies.

IFI governance

News

15 September 1999

Bank/Fund voting challenged

In late August India’s central bank chief told a meeting of bankers in Sri Lanka that the voting structure of international funding agencies should be changed to reflect the economic strengths of developing nations.

Social services

News

15 September 1999

Bank doubts wisdom of private infrastructure

The Financial Times reported in July that World Bank East Asia Vice President Jean-Michel Severino admitted that the Bank and other organisations had been naive about the benefits of private infrastructure.

Knowledge

News

15 September 1999

Independent e-conference on Poverty WDR first draft

The Bretton Woods Project will run an electronic conference to discuss the first draft of the World Bank’s Poverty World Development Report.

News

15 September 1999

Monitoring the monitors

Conditionality

News

15 September 1999

PNG Government avoids conditionality

Relations between the Bank and the government of Papua New Guinea were strained in July by the government’s decision to issue bonds to raise money from the private sector.

Rights

News

15 September 1999

Annual meetings Prague 2000

NGO preparations are already underway for the World Bank’s 2000 annual meetings.

News

15 September 1999

UK ISP still AWOL

Over a year after it was due to come out and after initial consultations were held with NGOs, the Department for International Development (DFID) has still not published its Institutional Strategy Paper on the World Bank Group.

News

15 September 1999

UK Parliamentarians investigate World Bank

UK MPs on the International Development Committee took evidence from Myles Wickstead, UK Alternate Director at the World Bank, plus senior DFID officials.

Rights

News

15 September 1999

Major Bank pollution prevention handbook out

After 5 years of preparation the World Bank and IFC have jointly published a Pollution Prevention and Abatement Handbook.

News

15 September 1999

New reports available

Contact the Bretton Woods Project for copies.

Environment

News

15 September 1999

Bank, IUCN sign cooperation agreement

At the end of June IUCN and the World Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize their partnership agreement.

Conditionality

News

15 September 1999

Social Principles limited to crisis situations

The Bank’s paper on best practices for implementing the social principles will be discussed by the Board on 10 September.

Finance

News

15 September 1999

Bank to guarantee economic policy reforms

The World Bank Board recently agreed that the Bank can extend its partial credit guarantee instrument to cover structural and social policy reforms.

Private Sector

News

15 September 1999

Int. Chamber of Commerce Partners with Bank

In June the World Bank agreed to step up cooperation with the International Chamber of Commerce to boost the private sector, trade and investment in the Bank’s member countries.

Conditionality

News

15 September 1999

WB-IMF orthodoxy rivalled by Asian Development Bank

The Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), led by its new head Masaru Yoshitomi, has mounted an attack on the IMF’s use of conventional policies for dealing with the crisis in Asia and plans to hold meetings and seminars to challenge the IMF’s approach at the Bank/Fund annual meetings.

IFI governance

News

15 September 1999

CDF country pilots show wide differences in approach

Wolfensohn’s Comprehensive Development Framework, which aims to make the World Bank more responsive to different policy proposals, and encourage long-term, integrated decision-making, is now being piloted in 12 countries.

Finance

News

15 September 1999

IMF policies fuel social crisis in Ecuador

In July, rising transport and fuel prices in Ecuador led to strikes and public protests, and an up-rising by thousands of indigenous people who are also concerned about privatisation plans.

Conditionality

News

15 September 1999

Strikers in Colombia in protest at IMF and debt

In late August Colombian labour unions began an indefinite national strike in protest at the government’s political, social, and economic agenda and calling on the government to declare a moratorium on the payment of its internal and external debt.

Conditionality

News

15 September 1999

Bank support for social sector in Brazil an illusion

Last year the World Bank lent billions of dollars to Brazil, claiming that they would support social safety-nets during the financial crisis.

Accountability

News

15 September 1999

IMF and Bank failed to spot Indonesia corruption

The International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) has criticised the Bank and Fund for failing to properly supervise the use of loan funds which were intended to help refinance the shattered banking sector.

Rights

News

15 September 1999

Call to halt aid after Timorese massacres

Massacres perpetrated and condoned by the Indonesian army have led to calls to halt World Bank and IMF aid programmes to Indonesia.

Accountability

News

15 September 1999

Western banks in Russian corruption scandal

The FBI and US Congress are investigating allegations that the Bank of New York, the Republic National Bank and other Western financial institutions were involved in laundering IMF loans siphoned out of Russia by the mafia helped by top Kremlin officials.

Accountability

News

15 September 1999

Politics before good policies in Zimbabwe

The IMF has agreed to lend US$7.32 bn to the Zimbabwean government despite continued concerns about corruption in the land reform process; the cost of supporting Zimbabwean troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); a planned privatisation of the Hwange power plant; and the reintroduction of price controls.

Land

News

15 September 1999

Oil-Palm Watch

Indonesian NGOs, concerned about the spread of oil palm plantations since the onslaught of the crisis, have formed “Sawat (Oil Palm) Watch”.

Finance

News

15 September 1999

Africans to challenge Washington Consensus

African NGOs met in Nairobi in August to discuss and formulate an Africa Consensus on economic and social development to challenge the Washington Consensus.

Rights

News

15 September 1999

UK committee criticises Bank and Fund over conflict roles

The UK International Development Select Committee of MPs has criticised the IMF and Bank for failing to raise concerns with the Rwandan government about the discrimination and intimidation of Tutsis prior to the civil war.

IFI governance

News

15 September 1999

Strategic Compact assessment

The Bretton Woods Project recently obtained two documents in which the World Bank evaluates progress of its Strategic Compact internal reform initiative and sets out strategy for the next few years.

Environment

News

15 September 1999

Climate proposals queried

Many NGOs wrote to the Bank raising questions about the proposed Prototype Carbon Fund, adopted by the Board in July.

Knowledge

News

15 September 1999

Bank learns European ABCDE

The World Bank held its first Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics - Europe this June in Paris.

WB/IMF roles

News

15 September 1999

Bank to convene new public policy fora

The World Bank is considering setting up new fora to discuss issues of global importance which are not being effectively handled by existing national or international mechanisms.

Finance

News

15 September 1999

Changing names but not spots

The Interim Committee is likely to change its name to the “International Monetary and Finance Committee”.

WB/IMF roles

News

15 September 1999

IMF mission creep

The IMF, which monitors all its members’ economies through its Article IV consultation process, is not content with monitoring the codes on fiscal policy, corporate governance and monetary policy.

More news

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