24 July 2002
The World Bank has issued a discussion paper for consultation before revising its operational directive on adjustment lending. Concerns over changes to the ceiling on policy-based lending and a shift towards less mandatory directives, as well as the conultation process itself, have been raised by NGOs.
A Papuan NGO, the Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights, attempted to halt the release of a $17 million World Bank loan, claiming that the PNG government had failed to stop illegal logging and road construction, and that the Bank had failed to supervise compliance with the conditionalities.
At the launch of the new book of former WB Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents, IMF Director of Research, Ken Rogoff lashes out.
The World Bank president has asked his staff to prepare a human rights strategy, ending a long-standing aversion to engaging in the debate. But how far can the Bank go when its board and legal staff are urging extreme caution?
It is time for the IMF and World Bank to understand their own responsibility and decolonise their approach.
