Bretton Woods
Update 26
Brown’s “New Deal” suggests enhanced Bank, Fund roles
Gordon Brown’s recent speeches on a “New Deal” for the global economy have been generally welcomed, especially for their suggestions that aid budgets should be increased.
Divergent views on PRSP progress
A new report compiled from workshops organised by Jubilee South, Focus on the Global South and other southern civil society groups claims structural adjustment logic and policies essentially remain unchanged in PRSPs.
World Bank role in Afghanistan unclear
After the first two donor conferences on the reconstruction of Afghanistan – in Islamabad in November and in Brussels in December – some people worry that reconstruction funds could easily be misused and fuel continued civil strife.
Bank plans private sector shake-up
In February the World Bank’s Board will consider a new Private Sector Development Strategy.
Bank staff criticise “thought police”
The World Bank’s clumsy attempts to censor its own researchers have resulted in stinging criticism by Bank staff.
Arrests of Tanzania mine activists
In late November the Tanzanian authorities took action against an organisation which has been investigating the death and dispersal of artisanal miners at a project backed by the World Bank Group.
Bank shuns dialogue results
Two civil society groups have criticised the World Bank for failing to live up to its promise of working more with communities affected by its policies and operations.
Rethinking development economics
Development economics needs to be revived “not as a “deviant” branch of mainstream economics, but as a subject that can aid our understanding of the acute problems typically faced by developing countries,” concluded a meeting organised by UNRISD and Ford Foundation in South Africa.
World Bank-led meeting on Afghanistan causes concern in Pakistan
By Shahid Husain, Freelance journalist, Karachi, and Charlotte Carlsson, Communications & research officer, Bretton Woods Project
Bank not living up to promises to dialogue
Two civil society groups have criticised the World Bank for failing to live up to its promise of working more with communities affected by its policies and operations.
WTO rejects Africans’ request for study of SAP effects before more tariff cuts
The proposal by seven African countries that the World Trade Organisation (WTO study the impacts of trade liberalisation measures imposed by structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) before launching another round of tariff-cutting negotiations has been ignored.
Bank and Fund take on terror
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund appear to have carved out roles for themselves in the “international war against terrorism” through their institutional framework (November 2001).
Tanzanian authorities attempt to silence activists on Bulyanhulu case
Tanzanian authorities have arrested Rugemeleza Nshala, President of the Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT), and raided the house of another LEAT lawyer, Tundu Lissu in connection with their investigations into abuses and irregularities at the World Bank-backed Bulyanhulu gold mine.
Critics respond to Bank demands
The World Bank and anti-globalisation activists have now traded three rounds of demands and counter-demands since September this year.
IMF Evaluation Office announces programme
After putting its first proposed work programme to public consultation, the new IMF Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) has revealed the topics it will investigate in 2002.
Doing well out of war
The importance of economic agendas in contemporary conflicts has been the focus of a series of recent papers by Paul Collier, Director of the Bank’s Development Research Group.
“It Takes Two to Tango”
This report by Jubilee Plus aims to raise debate on “the legal mechanisms” for making debt standstill mechanisms work.
Bank prepares major report for sustainability summit
A World Bank team is currently preparing the next World Development Report which will be launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development this September.
Investment rules website
The International Investment Rules Project has launched a new website and list-serve dedicated to providing coverage, critique, and links to the emerging rule-making and governance of investment in international, regional and bilateral investment rules and markets.
Vietnam mangrove forests
The World Bank’s role in damaging or endangering the mangrove forests of Vietnam (and their inhabitants) has been the subject of an article and exchange of letters in the Bulletin of the World Rainforest Movement.
Standstill and insolvency: a new mechanism for the IMF?
18 December 2001 – In a surprise anouncement in late November the new number two at the IMF, Ann Krueger, has proposed that the IMF should support temporary debt standstills for indebted countries.
IMF proposes new debt standstill mechanism
In late November the new number two at the IMF, Ann Krueger, proposed that the IMF should support temporary debt standstills for indebted countries.
Extractive Industries Review gets harsh reception
NGOs say the World Bank’s Extractive Industries Review (EIR), launched at a workshop in Brussels at the end of October, has severe shortcomings.
World Bank grants plan “crazy”
Disagreements between donors about how much grant money the Bank should give to the poorest countries has held up replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA), Bank’s soft-lending arm.
Tax investors to finance bailouts
An alternative proposal to debt standstill is to create larger bailout funds.
Call to cease forestry lending overruled
The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) in Papua New Guinea filed, in early December, a claim to the World Bank inspection panel after illegal logging made some 300 landowners “lose their land and forests through bad forest governance”.
Link budget to PRSP
The budget in Zambia should be linked to poverty reduction priorities, urged the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCPJ) in a statement submitted to the government in October 2001.
PRSP monitoring unit established
The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has set up a PRSP Monitoring and Synthesis Project.
Bank and Fund watchers must watch WTO
As the World Bank and the IMF inch closer towards streamlining their policies with those of the WTO, and vice-versa, a Bretton Woods Briefing discusses why Bank and Fund watchers should keep a close eye on the WTO negotiations (November 2001) .
Book examines World Bank campaigns
Civil society work on the international financial institutions is analysed in a new book.
Gateway claim denied
The power and control problems associated with the World Bank’s “knowledge” agenda are confirmed by the recent response to the anti-corruption claim filed on the Bank’s Development Gateway internet scheme.
Ugandan dam approved
In late December the World Bank approved the Bujagali dam, Uganda.
Bank steps up journalist training
At the World Water Forum, Bonn, the World Bank distributed flyers advertising a training programme for journalists running up to the World Water Forum 2003.
Database on “dirty” Bank projects
A new database catalogues World Bank projects since 1992 which have involved fossil fuels.
IMF shares blame for Argentina’s collapse
Many eyes are now looking to see how Argentina will manage its financial and political crises.
New UK ED at Bank and Fund
Tom Scholar has replaced Stephen Pickford as the UK’s Executive Director at the World Bank and IMF.
Turkey’s political reward
Despite being in similar difficulties to Argentina and resistant to IMF-advocated structural reforms, IMF Managing Director, Horst K