Languages
Friday, August 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Eye on the IFIs
EU Seeks Protection from Emerging Economies
For many years, the European Union (EU) and its individual member states counted among the strongest advocates for free trade, arguing that it would boost economic growth and welfare both at home and abroad.
Major Extractives Firms No Longer Ignoring Community Consent
New research from Oxfam, an international aid agency, finds that some of the largest multinational oil and mining companies are increasingly incorporating principles of community consent into their day-to-day operations.
Starving for an Equitable Food System
The root cause of hunger and malnutrition for millions of people worldwide lies in the severely skewed and unfairly structured hierarchy of policymakers, not in natural disasters or food shortages, according to the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2012 (RTFN Watch) released Tuesday.
U.N. Chief Fires Up Private Investment for Global Energy Solutions
Following a lukewarm outcome of the Rio+20 sustainable development negotiations in June, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is moving full-steam ahead on a new initiative aimed at leveraging public-private partnerships to bring modern energy to over one billion people by 2030.IMF Likely to Miss Key Reforms Deadline
With just a month to go before an agreed deadline, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Tuesday that a push for more equitable voting shares among the organisation’s member states was still lagging.
Caribbean Seeks Leg Up from Economic Doldrums
As governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) that groups seven countries, Sir Dwight Venner is all too aware of the low economic growth, debt and financial instability confronting the wider Caribbean.
U.S. Ready to Cut Egypt’s Debt
As reports surfaced Tuesday that U.S. negotiators, in Cairo for the past week, are closing in on an agreement to cut a billion dollars from Egypt’s bilateral debt, the State Department here announced that a record-sized U.S. business delegation would travel to Egypt later this week.With Egyptian Loan Request, Some Fear Loss of Revolution’s Gains
After 18 months of talks, on Wednesday Egypt's government formally requested a 4.8-billion-dollar loan from the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF), hoping to stabilise an economy that has continued to badly stutter in the aftermath of the popular uprising that led to the downfall of former President Hosni Mubarak.World Bank Releases Draft Strategy for Myanmar
Following on calls by civil society, the World Bank has released a draft summary framework for its re-engagement with Myanmar over the next year and a half. The formal interim strategy is slated to be ready by the end of October.
Food Activists See Portents of New and Deeper Hunger Crisis
Food rights activists from around the world will descend on the coastal U.S. state of Florida next week to protest homelessness and hunger facing millions of people in the United States and across the globe.Corporate Lobbyists Threaten Democracy
Over a month has passed since the United Nations summit on sustainable development concluded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but the world still appears to be unaware of one of the most important statements made during the conference that drew some 50,000 delegates from all over the world.Laos’s Rural Women Await Midwives
A year after the Laotian government launched a safe pregnancy programme news of this initiative, involving the dispatch of teams of midwives across the country, is yet to reach women in the remote communities.Banksters Hijack Microfinance
For several decades, microcredit presented itself as a magical and benign financial tool for the poorest people in the world, who were otherwise completely excluded from conventional commercial banking services, to secure easy access to loans in order to set up their own businesses and live a dignified life.
Officials Decry “Appalling Gaps” in Global Data on Women
The World Bank and U.S. government on Thursday each announced major new initiatives aimed at expanding knowledge on the experience of women around the world, while acknowledging that much remains to be done on filling the global “data gap” on women.
Look to Developing World for Solutions, Says New World Bank Chief
Speaking on Wednesday at his first major public address, new World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the institution needs to be more flexible and responsive, as well as more open to innovations coming from the developing world.
Q&A: Transforming the Way the Global Environment is Managed
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is ready to be a catalyst for transforming the way the global environment is managed, said the next CEO and chairperson of the multilateral institution, Dr. Naoko Ishii, in this interview with Tierramérica *.World Bank Approves Contentious Ethiopia-Kenya Electric Line
The World Bank has voted to approve funding credit for a major transmission line that would link Kenya to the controversial Gilgel Gibe III dam site in southern Ethiopia, pushing back against months of calls by local and international rights and environmental groups to keep out of the project.New World Bank Chief Backs Defunding Bangladesh Bridge Project
On Monday, his first day in office, new World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said he sees the institution's recent decision to pull out of a massive bridge project in Bangladesh as "appropriate".
Kim Assumes World Bank Presidency Amidst Uncertainty
Incoming World Bank President Jim Yong Kim reported to work on Monday for the first time, telling those gathered at the bank's headquarters here in Washington that he was "humbled and inspired to take over today as president".
Bangladesh on the Green Brick Road
Bangladesh, a country highly vulnerable to climate change, is doing its bit to reduce greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions and glacier-melting soot by switching to ‘smokeless’ brick-making technology.
World Bank: Latin America Has the Green Antidote Within Reach
The natural resources of currently buoyant Latin America could be significantly depleted in less than a generation. Combined with the fact that this is the region with the greatest income inequality between the rich and the poor, the outlook might appear disastrous. But the warning, voiced by the World Bank, is not meant as cause for despair.« Previous Page — Next Page »
They underpin the world's financial architecture, with the power to revamp whole economies and channel billions of development dollars each year. But the so-called International Financial Institutions -- the World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund and regional investment banks -- face a new era of public scrutiny and challenges to their relevancy. How are the IFIs responding to growing demands from the South and civil society groups for greater democracy and accountability? And are they living up to their stated mission of promoting economic prosperity for all? IPS reports.
The Week with IPS
NEXT STOP - SDGs
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
