Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Emilio Godoy * MEXICO CITY, May 26, 2011 (Tierramérica) – The World Bank is working to update the mechanisms it uses to measure the effects of the financing it provides, particularly in environmental and social terms, now that it is gearing up to administer the new Green [...]
Despite Reforms, Whistleblowers at Development Banks Face Retaliation
March 8, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Charles Davis WASHINGTON, Mar 8, 2011 (IPS) – Multilateral lending institutions – like the governments they serve – are ostensibly committed to the values of transparency and accountability. But more often than not, insiders who blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse at institutions like the [...]
AFRICA: World Bank Identifies Five Poor States as "Growth Poles"
March 7, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Nastasya Tay JOHANNESBURG, Mar 7, 2011 (IPS) – Africa faces an unprecedented opportunity to transform itself, says the World Bank. Its new strategy for the continent aims to leverage growing South-South investment to ensure more inclusive development, while identifying five poor states as "Growth Poles". The Bank [...]
World Bank Extends Food Crisis Fund
October 20, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Matthew O. Berger and Peter Boaz WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2010 (IPS) – Amidst fears of a recurring food crisis, the World Bank has reactivated its Global Food Crisis Response Programme (GFRP), dedicating up to 760 million dollars to countries at risk of food price volatility. In announcing [...]
The Poor Pay but the Rich Rule the World Bank
May 17, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN The Poor Pay but the Rich Rule the World Bank Credit: World Bank By Nirode Massion IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis LONDON (IDN) – Rich countries will continue to crushingly dominate the World Bank in spite of recent shifts in countries’ voting power, which have been described as "historic changes to [...]
World Bank Boosts Commitment to Lower Maternal Mortality
May 12, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, May 12 (IPS) – The World Bank intends to ramp up spending on family-planning and related initiatives to reduce maternal mortality, improve reproductive health, and reduce fertility rates in nearly 60 developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new five-year plan released by [...]
Developing Nations Gain Clout at World Bank – Depending on Your Math
April 26, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Matthew Berger WASHINGTON, Apr 26 (IPS) – Developing countries will have a slightly larger say at the World Bank under an agreement reached at the institution’s spring meetings this weekend. But some groups are challenging whether the shift in voting shares is as large as it should be – [...]
The Brave New World of Robert Zoellick
April 23, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IDN By Ramesh Jaura IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis BERLIN (IDN) – Thirty-three years after the World Bank president Robert McNamara proposed the establishment of an international commission to break the deadlock in North-South relations, his successor Robert B. Zoellick has proclaimed that in the new system triggered by a multi-polar world, North [...]
Emerging Powers Cooking Up New International Order
April 16, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Analysis by Beatriz Bissio * RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 16 (IPS) – Since the emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement, there has been no louder and more compelling call for a rethinking of the international economic system as the one issued this week in Brazil by the leaders of the [...]
G20 Needs a ‘Variable Geometry Approach’
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Mui Pong Goh IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint LONDON (IDN) – As G20 governments prepare to meet in Toronto this month, has this young group already passed its high point? In November 2008, when the international economy perched on the brink of collapse, the leaders of the twenty leading economies [...]