15 April 2000
A US Congress commission, which reported in March, called for major cut backs in World Bank and IMF activities.
Bolivia is the first country to have produced an Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), which has qualified it for the enhanced HIPC Initiative debt relief.
Activists from across the US will converge in Washington to protest at the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings.
The Stakeholders Support Group (SSG), formed by Kenyan opposition party members, lawyers and NGOs, is protesting against the resumption of IMF lending, saying that the government has not made the necessary reforms to stamp out corruption.
An assessment of how gender has been incorporated into six World Bank poverty assessments reveals great variation in the way that gender is treated.
A new report from Christian Aid, Millennium Lottery, Who Lives, Who Dies in an Age of Third World Debt, looks at how debt and structural adjustment hinders development through the lens of health in Africa.
A new report from the World Resources Institute examines to what extent, and under what conditions, the World Bank can be an effective proponent of forest policy reform through adjustment lending.
At the Davos Economic Summit in January UK Prime Minister Tony Blair called for serious debate about reforming global institutions.
In mid-March the World Bank launched the first of a new set of studies, Voices of the Poor.
The electronic conference on the draft Poverty World Development Report co-organised by the Bretton Woods Project in February and March attracted 1,500 participants and sparked a fascinating exchange of views.
In late February two Ugandan organisations sent a strong memo to the World Bank about the proposed Bujagali Dam Project.
On February 17th, the World Bank Group held a public consultation on its Slovakia Country Assistance Strategy (CAS).
The World Bank said in late February that it would not guarantee the billion-dollar Nam Theun II dam in Laos until the government commits itself to significant political and economic reforms.
In mid-February the World Bank sought to distance itself further from its image as an insensitive backer of huge projects such as steel mills and hydroelectric dams.
The Bank plans to launch a series of consultations on its planned new environment strategy.
The World Bank has refused a request from the Bretton Woods Project to allow NGOs and others to give their opinions of the successes and failures of the Bank’s Strategic Compact reform initiative.
The Meltzer Report has renewed fears that the debate on International Financial Institution (IFI) reform will be heavily skewed towards right-wing interests.
A vote by the IMF Board has confirmed Horst K
More than 120 NGOs and academics in 38 countries demanded an end to the secretive and undemocratic process for appointing the IMF Managing Director.
The UK should be more transparent about the decisions it takes at the IMF recommends the UK’s Treasury Committee in its February 2000 report on the IMF.
In a surprise move, which has raised further questions about overlap between the Bank and the IMF, Masood Ahmed, World Bank Vice President responsible for poverty reduction has been appointed Deputy Director of the IMF’s policy department.
African heads of state met in Libreville, Gabon in January to discuss the economic agenda for Africa in the new millennium.
Nick Stern, professor at the London School of Economics and former chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will succeed Joseph Stiglitz as World Bank chief economist.
Meanwhile Joseph Stiglitz has accepted a post as chairman of Wall Street investment firm Brookdale which specialises in emerging markets.
In a parting shot as he departed the Bank on February 1st, Joseph Stiglitz, in an interview with the International Herald Tribune, said the interests of poor countries had not been “adequately represented in a lot of the international fora”, even when decisions were potentially harmful to them.
A new briefing examining the Bank’s reassessment of the Washington Consensus and the influence of Stiglitz’s work at the Bank has just been published by the Bretton Woods Project and Public Services International.
A South Korean court has rejected a lawsuit filed by a group of labour unions against the IMF for alleged policy mistakes.
Zambian President, Fredrick Chiluba has blamed the IMF for Zambia’s economic problems, saying that the IMF’s reforms, advocated by rich countries, had brought unemployment and a rise in poverty levels.
Threats of oil prices rises sparked protests in Nigeria in December.
In January, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), and other social movements led an uprising in protest at the worsening economic situation which resulted in the resignation of the president, Jamil Mahuad.
In February, about 300 activists from the Student Federation of Thailand, the Forum of the Poor and labour groups burnt effigies of IMF managing-director Michel Camdessus and some Thai politicians in a protest in Bangkok where officials were attending the UNCTAD-X meeting.
In February, government and opposition parties called for the Brazilian IMF representative, Lorenzo Perez, to leave the country and accused the IMF of meddling in its domestic affairs.
NGO activists in Jakarta wrote an open letter to World Bank President James Wolfensohn in February, asking him to meet directly with the people to hear their own solutions to reverse Indonesia’s economic decline based on small-scale, local initiatives.
The Mozambican Debt Group (MDG) has protested against the one-year moratorium on Mozambican debt service payments granted by the World Bank in response to the devastation caused by the worst floods experienced by the country, and against the Bank providing loans to support emergency efforts.
A new report from the IMF, Country Experiences with the Use and Liberalization of Capital Controls, reviews experience with the use of capital controls in 14 countries and provides detailed studies of the experience of the use of controls in Chile, India and Malaysia.
A new report by UNCTAD, Capital Flows to Developing Countries and the Reform of the International Financial System, concludes that until ways can be found at the international level to limit financial instability then developing countries should maintain national control over capital flows.
A new report from War on Want, The Global Gamblers, British Banks and the Foreign Exchange Game, finds that banks profit substantially from trading foreign currency during periods of financial instability.
Slow progress was made during the G7 finance ministers meeting in Tokyo in January on how to involve the private sector in crisis resolution.
It has been agreed that a high level United Nations meeting on Finance for Development will be held in 2001 involving political decision-makers at least at the ministerial level.
Michel Camdessus, former IMF Managing Director, has proposed that the G8 should be expanded to the G30, to include all countries represented on the IMF and World Bank boards plus representatives from the IMF, WB and UN institutions.
The IMF and World Bank will participate in a commission of eminent economists chaired by Jeffrey Sachs on Macroeconomics and Health.
The IFC, in consultation with a number of private sector companies, NGOs, foundations and others, has compiled a draft guide for its clients on carrying out community development activities.
Following last year’s review, the Bank’s NGO Team is planning new communications products and tools for civil society groups.
The Prodeminca mining project in Ecuador, officially called the Ecuadorian Mining and Environment Technical Assistance Project, involves a loan for $14 million that was approved in 1994.
The second Inspection Panel claim on the pilot phase of the Brazilian land reform project, commonly known as Cedula da Terra, was denied for reasons of eligibility of the requesters.
The WDR 2001/2002 will focus on the institutional infrastructure necessary for a strong and well-functioning market economy.
Washington DC-based NGO Bank Information Centre (BIC) has produced toolkits to help citizens more effectively engage with and influence the World Bank.
The President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, in Thailand in February for the UNCTAD meeting, refused to accept a letter from villagers affected by the Bank-backed Pak Mun Dam.
Friends of the Earth International, one of the main organisers of the NGO events surrounding the Annual meeting of the World Bank and IMF, this September in Prague, is organising a two day video festival, where documentaries related to IMF/World Bank activities will be shown for a wide audience, connected with debates and presentations.
The oil companies involved in the Chad- Cameroon oilfield and pipeline project have pulled out of the planned deal.
The University of Helsinki is organising a conference exploring cosmopolis and opportunities for reforming global governance from 2-3rd June 2000.
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.
