Bretton Woods
Update 64
Who pays for the Fund and the Bank?
The IMF and the World Bank derive their income mainly from their lending operations, charging borrowing countries, and from their investments in financial markets.
Bankspeak of the year 2008
Annual Bretton Woods Project award for the most incomprehensible or absurd use of language in a Bank or Fund document or speech.
World Bank’s planned lending splurge: Do the numbers stack up?
The first signs of a promised dramatic increase in World Bank lending are emerging, but critics continue to attack the Bank’s lending practices, including its controversial use of conditionality.
The IFC’s massive lending increase
The financial crisis has shrunk credit availability to the private sector, including in developing countries. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) plans to step into the gap, but there are questions about the likely development impact and implementation of environmental and social safeguards.
After cannibalised globalisation
Eduardo Gudynas argues that the financial crisis reveals a profound crisis of the multilateral governing system.
Financial crisis leads to a resurgence of the IFIs in Latin America
After years of playing an ever diminishing role in Latin America, the IMF and the World Bank are in pursuit of a resurgence in the region.
Overhaul of international institutions
The IFIs are gaining prominence but also attracting renewed criticism. In a series of articles we cover the political response to the financial crisis, the IMF’s lending, the World Bank’s boost in lending and proposals for reform of the international architecture.
Will IMF loans hurt the poor this time around?
While the IMF undertakes high-speed reviews into its lending instruments and conditionality, it continues to make crisis loans with heavy conditionality that may adversely impact the poor in developing countries.
Bretton Woods 2: What should be on the agenda?
What roles should twenty first century international financial institutions (IFIs) play, and how should they be structured? This paper sets out some of the key issues that would need to be resolved at a second UN monetary and financial conference – a ‘Bretton Woods 2’ – and discusses the road ahead.
Bank falls foul of Inspection Panel
Inspection Panel reports relating to Albania and Uganda expose World Bank non-compliance in a number of areas. These findings are compounded by allegations of corruption and the obstruction of the Inspection Panel investigation.
Poznan and beyond
Recent UN global climate negotiations in Poland highlighted ongoing tension over whether funds will be channelled through the United Nations or the World Bank and once again shone a light on the role of the Bank as a major investor in carbon intensive projects.
IMF conditionality made public
In early January the IMF finally made publicly available its full database of conditions included in IMF loans.
IFC keeping up with the kids
Not content to just launch its heavily-criticised Doing Business on second life, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation launched a group on popular social networking site Facebook in 2008.
World Bank debarred software provider
In December 2008 the World Bank declared that it had debarred Satyam Computer Services for providing “improper benefits to bank staff”.
Bank results and monitoring weak: IEG
A recent Independent Evaluation Group report, Decentralization in Client Countries, finds that in only a third of cases the Bank contributed positively to the effectiveness of recipient country attempts to decentralise.
Ghanaians calls for expulsion of Bank rep
In January, Ghana Web, a daily news and resource site, issued a sharp attack on the World Bank and its country representative in Ghana demanding that the president expel the World Bank country director in Ghana from his post.
IMF doles out poor tax advice in Pakistan
Tax experts in Pakistan commented critically on the IMF’s December mission on the country’s tax system.
Karachaganak: IFC still out of compliance
The International Financial Corporation is still out of compliance more than 6 months after findings by the Office of Compliance, Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) found it to have disregarded its own regulation of toxic chemical emissions at Karachaganak Oil and Condensation Field in Western Kazakhstan.
WDR 2009’s quiet entrance
The World Development Report (WDR) 2009, Reshaping Economic Geography was launched in November to little fanfare, buried deep in the wake of the financial crisis.
IFC accountability: alright in theory
According to the 2008 Global Accountability Report, written by UK NGO the One World Trust, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) scores well compared to other international institutions on its accountability policies.
Thank you for your support!
Following our appeal for assistance in Update 63, we would like to thank those readers who made donations. Your generosity is crucial for the survival of the Project, especially in the current economic climate.