U.S. Government Oversight | Bank Information Center: Monitoring the projects and policies of the World Bank, IMF and other international financial institutions


bicusa.org/usgovt U.S. Government Oversight Overview Background Updates Resources Contacts RSS Press Release \| 30 January 2011 Brazil Green Lights Amazon Dam Disregarding Environmental Laws and Local Opposition Just a month after World Bank $500 million DPL payment to Brazil, followed by $614 million BNDES bridge loan to Belo Monte builders, New Dilma Government approves fast-track forest clearance and commencement of controversial Belo Monte construction site. Read more Update \| 5 October 2010 World Bank evaluation shows decline of cost benefit accounting as criteria for project approval In a new study, BIC's Vince McElhinny examines recent IEG findings that point to a significant accountability gap with regard to a lack of cost benefit analysis at the institution and what this implies in the context of the ongoing investment lending reform. Read more Update \| 13 September 2010 Senate Foreign Relations Committee examines the MDB reform agenda On Wednesday, September 15, Chairman John Kerry presided over the committee hearing as the multilateral development banks request capital increases. Links to transcripts of the opening statements and testimonies follow. Read more Update \| 13 July 2010 IDB’s Zelikow quits after Moreno gets second term as President No. 2 official at IDB resigns after approval of a $70 billion capital increase and re-election of President Luis Alberto Moreno Read more Update \| 30 March 2010 World Bank recapitalization update - “New world – same World Bank” The proposed capital increases for the World Bank and IFC would expand their size without expanding the scope of their reform. Read more Press Release \| 24 March 2010 “The IDB Cancun Declaration is a step forward, but it is just that- one step" Press Release from civil society groups present at the IDB Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Cancun, Mexico Read more Update \| 11 March 2010 Lugar: No more money for development banks until reform The staff of Senator Richard Lugar released a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations calling for reform of the IFIs before Congress approves upcoming capital replenishment requests for the institutions. Read more Press Clipping \| 13 February 2010 US-HAITI: The IDB Loan that Wasn't – Part 1 Read more Press Clipping \| 6 February 2010 HAITI: U.S. Lawmakers, NGOs Call for Debt Cancellation On the eve of Friday's meeting by G7 finance ministers in Iqaluit, Canada, 94 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that also called for 'the provision of assistance to Haiti in the form of grants so that the country does not accumulate additional debts. Read more Update \| 1 February 2010 United States reform priorities for MDB capital increases Within the context of the upcoming general capital increase for the World Bank, African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Treasury Department produced a document outlining U.S. reform priorities for these multilateral development banks. Read more Press Clipping \| 22 January 2010 Candidates emerge to head Inter-American Development Bank Read more Update \| 21 January 2010 2010 IDB Annual Meeting - Cancun All the latest news from the IDB Global Capital Increase (GCI-9) and the Annual Meetings taking place from March 19-23, 2010 Read more Press Clipping \| 20 January 2010 E&E News quotes BIC on Treasury Dept. coal guidelines The U.S. Department of the Treasury recently released guidelines on the funding of coal power plants by multilateral development banks, prompting mixed reactions from civil society. BIC board member Athena Ballesteros and Sustainable Energy Expert Yong Chen are quoted, expressing enthusiasm as well as concern about the guidelines and their effectiveness. Read more Update \| 11 January 2010 BIC comments on U.S. Dept. of Treasury's new guidance for developing coal power On December 14th, the U.S. Treasury released a note titled "Guidance to MDBs for Engaging with Developing Countries on Coal-Fired Power Generation" which will guide how U.S. representatives to MDBs deal with proposed coal projects. Here, BIC comments on the functionality of the new policy. Read more Update \| 7 January 2010 U.S. Treasury guidance note for MDB coal investments In December 2009, the U.S. Treasury released a guidance note intended to be adapted by individual MDBs and incorporated into their respective operational policies, country and sector strategies, and other procedures that are related to the public or private project cycle for coal-powered generation operations. Read more Update \| 5 November 2009 DPLs now over half of World Bank lending: Gaping hole in transparency and accountability In 2009, Development Policy Operations increased dramatically as a percentage of overall World Bank lending, from an average of about 33% to over 50%. Dogged by concerns that stem from a lack of a strong set of safeguard policies or clear results, this shift to greater dependence on DPLs/DPOs raises concerns about arbitrage by Bank clients to soften or avoid transparency and accountability commitments. Read more Update \| 5 November 2009 World Bank recapitalization conditioned on reforms The World Bank is quietly preparing the first capital increase in nearly 20 years to replenish the coffers after unprecedented lending in 2008 and the coming two years. Read more Press Release \| 5 November 2009 IDB GCI consultation at early crossroads Guadalajara Civil Society Meetings in Guadalajara, Mexico open with increased demands for consultation process accountability, transparency guarantees. Good faith participation by CSOs rests on Bank decision to disclose and discuss a second draft of the proposed revisions to the Independent Consultation and Inspection Mechanism (ICIM). Read more Update \| 21 July 2009 IDB ignores substance of civil society replenishment recommendations The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) sidesteps civil society concerns raised regarding a proposal advanced by the IDB in Santiago, Chile on July 2 to increase its capital base by $100-$200 billion, which would triple Bank annual lending from an average of $US 6 billion since the last replenishment to a projected $16-19 billion per year. Read more Press Clipping \| 21 July 2009 Tim Geithner's Secret Crash Pad Since moving to Washington in January, Geithner has been secretly crashing at his old friend Daniel Zelikow's posh manse in the District's tony Kalorama neighborhood. Zelikow, a former Wall Street hotshot who now serves as executive vice president of the Inter-American Development Bank, is a college buddy of Geithner's. Read more Update \| 20 July 2009 IDB & IIRSA: Continuity in Question Within the current context of a global capital increase proposal by the Inter-American Development Bank that would permit the Bank to triple its current annual lending volume, 20 civil society organizations from 10 countries demanded that the IDB not renew its mandate to participate in the Technical Coordination Committee (CCT) of IIRSA based on the inconsistency of IIRSA practices with Bank safeguard and operating policies. Read more Update \| 20 July 2009 IDB ignores substance of civil society GCI reform proposal After months of internal planning and vibrant debate over how to best position the Bank to garner an unprecedented capital increase, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno acknowledged the receipt of a ten page civil society proposal of needed reforms, but failed to respond in any detail to any of the substantive arguments. Instead, the President delegated External Relations to outline a delayed and ambiguous consultation process that the Bank Board is expected to endorse in the coming weeks Read more Update \| 4 July 2009 Honduras coup stalls $450 million of World Bank and IDB finance Honduras' finance minister in exile maintains that the recent army-backed coup could cost the poverty-stricken Central American country $450 million in financing from international organizations this year. Without funding from multinational organizations and foreign countries, many of Honduras' social programs and public investments could be in jeopardy. Read more Update \| 2 July 2009 20 Civil Society Organizations and networks call on IDB to withdraw from IIRSA In the context of a 9th Global Capital Increase request, for which the IDB is designing a new institutional strategy anchored by sustainability, equity and development goals, IIRSA has not demostrated compatibility with these goals and should be abandoned by the Bank. Read more Update \| 30 June 2009 Civil society organizations challenge IDB commitments to development results and sustainability As member countries assess the 9th replenishment proposal advanced by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on July 2 in Santiago, Chile, eight civil society organizations submitted recommendations on leadership steps the IDB should take in several critical areas before qualifying for any capital increase. These recommendations focus on two core areas of the IDB’s comparative advantage as a development bank in Latin America, Sustainability and Management for Development Results. Read more Press Clipping \| 18 April 2009 IDB evaluates a re capitalization of US$ 180 billion The IDB looks to recapitalize their resources according to the recommendations in the report written by Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, former Finance minister of Peru. Read more Update \| 22 March 2009 IDB financial losses and glaring lack of accountability invalidate replenishment request The Inter-American Development Bank should not receive public funding unless it becomes fully accountable to member governments and the public. Read more Press Clipping \| 12 February 2009 IDB record $2 bn losses force replenishment request The reported scale of the Inter-American Development Bank's investment portfolio losses of $1.9 billion — 10 to 100 times higher than the losses of the other development banks Read more Update \| 21 October 2008 Debt for conservation agreement: US$25 million for conserving Peru’s rainforest The governments of the United States and Peru have reached an agreement to reduce Peru’s debt payments in exchange for protecting Peru’s tropical forests. Read more Update \| 17 July 2008 U.S. Congress launches World Bank Caucus The World Bank Caucus aims to foster dialogue between the World Bank and members of the U.S. Congress on development, poverty and trade issues. Read more Update \| 25 April 2008 ADB and U.S. at odds on policies While the U.S. remains committed to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and its mission of reducing poverty in Asia, objections to the Bank's lending policies and its function are causing concerns that U.S. funding commitments could be cut because of the dispute. Read more Update \| 11 March 2008 IMF Gold Sales: the U.S. Treasury agenda, Congressional leverage, and civil society advocacy Although the U.S. Treasury has voiced its support for International Monetary Fund (IMF) gold sales under its own set of reform priorities, the ultimate leverage rests with the U.S. Congress. Civil society has started to conduct policy advocacy to the U.S. Congress, calling for the attachment of a number of key policy reforms for development in low-income countries. Read more Update \| 10 March 2008 Paulson pressed on ADB funding rules Representatives of the U.S. Senate judiciary and House financial services committees, urge Hank Paulson, the U.S. Treasury secretary, to demand that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) stick to tougher environmental and social criteria. Read more Update \| 19 November 2007 U.S. coalition calls for World Bank reforms A coalition of U.S. development and environmental groups has released a joint platform containing needed World Bank reforms, ahead of the 15th replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA) negotiations in Dublin, Ireland. Read more Update \| 9 October 2007 Zoellick carries US trade policies into the World Bank The World Bank will focus on labor-intensive export to boost employment in the Arab World. Read more Update \| 6 April 2007 US swears in Executive Director to IMF Meg Lundsager was confirmed by the US Senate and is now the official US Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. Read more Update \| 14 March 2007 US nominates new Executive Directors for World Bank, IMF and ADB Testimonies were presented by nominees Margrethe Lundsager, Eli Whitney Debevoise II and Curtis S. Chin to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and statements were followed by a question and answer period. Read more Update \| 20 February 2007 Demystifying International Development Association (IDA) replenishment Representatives of donor countries, also known as IDA Deputies, met in Paris in early March to negotiate the amount of funding they will contribute to IDA's 15th replenishment. Find out more about the how the process works and what to expect. Read more Update \| 9 February 2007 US representative to the World Bank to step down Jennifer Dorn has been serving as Acting Executive Director. Read more Update \| 8 February 2007 Key US Treasury official concerned with the international financial institutions resigns US Treasury International Affairs Under-Secretary Timothy D. Adams announced his resignation on February 2, 2007. Read more Update \| 13 November 2006 Where Oil flows...Debt grows BIC and partners challenge World Bank and US Government controversial support of Big Oil in November 14 Financial Times advertisement. Read more Update \| 27 October 2006 US senators protest World Bank's use of "Doing Business" to attack labor standards A letter sent to World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz on Friday by six members of the United States Senate objects to the Bank's Doing Business publication because it "appears to discourage countries from upholding established standards of worker rights as set by the ILO." Read more Update \| 13 July 2006 Senators want to see progress on whistleblower protection at the World Bank Highlighting the steps taken by the United Nations, Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa (Republican) and Norm Coleman from Minnesota (Republican) sent a letter to President Paul Wolfowitz seeking a status report on whistleblower protection at the World Bank. Read more Update \| 10 July 2006 BIC Executive Director Manish Bapna testifies at Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Multilateral Development Banks Read more Update \| 20 June 2006 Congressional briefing on EI transparency tackles resource curse The Publish What You Pay coalition organized a briefing at the House of Representatives to highlight the lack of transparency and pervasive corruption in oil, gas and mining sector projects in the developing world. Read more Update \| 17 November 2005 US Government's 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriation Bill Finalized, Becomes Law New legislation includes provisions targeting reforms at the multilateral development banks (MDBs) Read more Update \| 6 July 2005 Debt and climate change dominate G8 Summit Learn civil society perspectives on climate change and the G8 debt cancellation proposal, and find out how to act. Read more Update \| 15 June 2005 Debt campaigners say G7 "debt relief" not enough African Jubilee South demands restitution, an end to debt and conditionalities Read more Update \| 5 May 2005 USAID reports to Congress on high-impact development projects Read more Update \| 30 March 2005 BIC launches new Web page on Parliamentary Oversight of the IFIs Read more Update \| 16 March 2005 Controversy surrounds appointment of Wolfowitz to lead World Bank The appointment represents the outcome of an opaque and undemocratic selection process and raises serious questions about the future trajectory of the World Bank Group. Read more Update \| 21 September 2004 U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold third hearing on Combating Corruption in the MDBs September 28 Read more Update \| 21 September 2004 Former USAID environmental analyst for MDB projects wins whistleblower ruling A federal civil service court ruled that former USAID environmental analyst's disclosures of legal violations and mismanagement played a role in decision to abruptly abolish his position in September 2002. Read more Update \| 7 June 2004 At G8 Summit, civil society demands follow-through on commitments Representatives of prominent African NGOs and trade unions have called upon the G8 to take action on their unfulfilled promises to address the debt, trade and HIV/AIDS issues. Transparency network calls for more disclosure. Read more Update \| 19 May 2004 US Senate Banking Committee calls hearing on oversight of World Bank and IMF This follows last week's Foreign Relations Committee hearing on "Combatting Corruption in the MDBs," showing growing interest within the Senate in overseeing International Financial Institutions. Read more Update \| 4 February 2004 This Web page is currently under construction Read more Print this page Email this page		Search Key Issues Forests IFC Policies and Standards Review World Bank Energy Strategy Review World Bank Safeguards Review World Bank Transparency Review Stay Informed! Sign up for our e-newsletters. SignUp

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