Weekly roundup: IFIs in the news
11 July 2008
The "Weekly Roundup" is a compilation of select news articles, blogs or other media concerning the international financial institutions from the past week.
African Development Bank:
African Development Bank and Microsoft sign Memorandum of Understanding / Partnership will focus on increasing access to ICT, African Development Bank Group, July 8, 2008 (African Press Organization website) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) and Microsoft today signed today an agreement to work together to increase access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for all Africans.
Private sector must end poverty - ADB, By Hlengiwe Ndlovu, The Swazi Observer, July 8, 2008 (The Swazi Observer website) - The African Development Bank (ADB) says the private sector in Swaziland should play a broader role in the development process and poverty reduction goal.
Asian Development Bank:
India, B’desh pay too much for state workers: ADB, Daily Times, July 9, 2008 (Daily Times website) - Many developing countries are paying higher salaries to their state employees than they can afford and stunting economic growth in the process, a study by the Asian Development Bank shows.
ADB eyes carbon credit fund, By Raphael Minder, Financial Times, July 8, 2008 (FT website) - The Asian Development Bank is setting up a climate change fund to invest in carbon credits that will be generated after 2012, the cut-off date for the Kyoto protocol.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
New Head of Development Bank Puts Focus on Russia, By Katrin Bennhold and Alison Smale, New York Times, July 5, 2008 (NYT website) - Western countries need to be ambitious and patient in fostering democracy in Russia and the strategic region arching from the Balkans to Central Asia, according to the new president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
EBRD hosts global conference aimed at cutting road deaths, The Financial, July 5, 2008 (The Financial website) - A global conference aimed at reducing the blight of rapidly increasing road deaths and injuries across emerging nations was hosted on July 4 at the London Headquarters of the EBRD.
Inter-American Development Bank:
Brazil obtains IDB loan for Sanitation Project, Inter-American Development Bank, July 10, 2008 (EnvironmentalExpert.com) - The Belém municipality in northern Brazil will obtain US$68.7 million from the Inter-American Development Bank for a sanitation and urban environmental program in Estrada Nova watershed, which is home to about 220,000 people.
Inter-American Development Bank Fails Haiti, Globalhood, July 7, 2008 (Globalhood Blog) - A recent Partners in Health article outlines yet another derailed foreign aid program, this time in Haiti. Seems the Inter-American Development Bank allocated more than $50 million 10 years ago to bring clean water, the most basic of human needs, to the country.
International Monetary Fund:
BB snubs IMF on policy, BDNews24, July 6, 2008 (BDNews24 website) - Central bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed said Sunday Bangladesh would make a monetary policy on its own—not under pressure from the International Monetary Fund.
World Bank:
Brilliant Plans to Destroy the Planet: The World Bank Tackles Climate Change, By Janet Redman, Institute for Policy Studies, July 11, 2008 (AlterNet website) - The World Bank's new Climate Investment Funds will do nothing to help the climate; they'll just give the bank more clout.
World Bank report could undermine biofuel support, By Lesley Wroughton, Reuters, July 9, 2008 (Reuters website) - A leading World Bank economist's claims that biofuels are a major cause of soaring world food prices could further undermine support for the alternative fuel worldwide and cause tensions with the White House, which fervently supports the new industry.
Peoples Forum winds up on call to scrap World Bank, Agence de Presse Africaine, July 9, 2008 (APA website) - The "Peoples Forum" presented as the counterpoint to the G8 summit convening in Hokkaido (Japan), ended Wednesday in the small farming town of Katibougou (Mali) on a pressing appeal to suppress the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
World Bank’s investments in Nigeria now $2.6bn, says FG, By Isaac Anumihe, Daily Sun, July 9, 2008 (Daily Sun website) - Federal Government yesterday put the total World Bank’s investment lending at $2.6 billion.
World Bank-climate change fund for poor countries 'seriously flawed', GMA News, July 8, 2008 (GMANews.TV) - A World Bank-managed climate change fund for poor countries is "seriously flawed" because these will be "disbursed largely as loans," Asian debt campaigners said on Tuesday.
Bad Juice II: Biofuels Maybe Not Quite So Bad, World Bank Says, By Keith Johnson, Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2008 (WSJ website) - The biofuels battle just gets hotter.
Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis, By Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian, July 4, 2008 (The Guardian website) - Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.
Who runs the world? Wrestling for influence, The Economist, July 3, 2008 (The Economist website) - The post-war global institutions have largely worked well. But rising countries and growing threats are challenging their pre-eminence