Eye on the IFIs

Keshav Sharma Credit:World Bank

Q&A: ‘World Bank in Tiger Territory – No Greenwashing’

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Feb 20, 2012 (IPS) - When World Bank president Robert Zoellick steps down in June, the tiger will lose an ally who worked to prevent the decimation of Asia’s iconic animal by a voracious demand for its bones and parts in newly affluent China.

Greeks Discover the Politics of Poverty

By Apostolis Fotiadis
According to European mainstream economists and politicians, the solution to the Greek debt crisis, and the only option for returning the country to a path of progress, is 'fiscal consolidation'.

NGOs Urge Open Selection Process for Next World Bank Chief

By Jim Lobe
A global coalition of development activists and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) is calling on the World Bank's governors to ensure that Bank President Robert Zoellick's successor is chosen in an "open and merit-based process" that will give borrowing countries a major say in the selection.

Despite Rhetoric, Women Still Sidelined in Development Funding

By Charundi Panagoda
As U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro once put it, "Women hold the keys to unlocking the barriers to sustainable development."

Mekong Unquiet Over Contain China Moves

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Six countries that share the Mekong River are being drawn into a development turf war, exposing initiatives by the United States government and its Asian allies – Japan and South Korea – to contain China’s growing influence in the region.

PORTUGAL: Going Underground in Hard Times

By Mario Queiroz
The underground economy in Portugal is booming thanks to the steep increases in taxation and prices demanded by a "troika" of international creditors to address the country's economic crisis.

JAMAICA: “Mama P” Faces Prejudice, Economic Challenges

By Zadie Neufville
Running on promises of job creation, economic growth and wider stakeholder consultations, Jamaica's most popular politician and the country's first female prime minister Portia Simpson Miller swept to power in a victory almost no one had predicted.

Romanians Discover Street Protest

By Claudia Ciobanu
For more than a week, thousands have been demonstrating in cities across Romania. Participants from all walks of life bring to the fore the broadest array of demands in what looks like a celebratory discovery of street protest. The main call is against lack of transparency and accountability in decision-making.

GREECE: Austerity Plan Breaches Last Line of Defence of Greek Workers

By Apostolis Fotiadis
As the Eurozone falls deeper into its sovereign debt crisis, the labour movement in Greece is being cudgelled to its knees by an austerity programme that has so far failed to bring any positive change for the crumbling Mediterranean country.

EUROPE: Unrest Spreads Eastwards

By Zoltán Dujisin
Protests in Hungary and Romania are the first signs of anti-systemic mobilisation in the Eastern half of the continent. While protests in both countries indicate dissatisfaction with their governments’ authoritarian turn, their origins differ, as does the European Union’s reaction to them.

EGYPT: Lending to Repression, Again

By Cam McGrath
For three decades Western governments and lending institutions bankrolled a corrupt regime in Egypt that trampled human rights and stifled democracy. Now they appear ready to do it again, say critics of the military council that has ruled since removing president Hosni Mubarak last February.

HUNGARY: Civil Society Steps in as Opposition

By Zoltán Dujisin
The massive overhaul of Hungary’s political system by the conservative Fidesz party is raising fears the country’s days as a liberal democracy may be numbered. With opposition parties powerless, it is civil society that has awakened to support a more participatory democracy.

The Dragon Goes Shopping in South America

By Chris Arsenault
The small restaurants and shops selling plastic sandals, tacky umbrellas, kitchen wares and paper lanterns in Buenos Aires's Chinatown do not give the impression of impending economic dominance.
AFL-CIO Director of International Affairs Cathy Feingold speaks at a rally protesting Pacific Rim on Dec. 15. Credit: Ron Carver

U.S.: Protestors Condemn Mining Corporation Suing El Salvador

By Barbara Doherty
Protestors rallied in front of World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C. today hoping to persuade a tribunal housed there to dismiss a case brought by Pacific Rim Mining Corporation against the government of El Salvador.

TUNISIA: Neo-Liberalism the Issue, Not Islam

By Jake Lippincott
On the verge of officially forming a coalition government to run the country and rewrite the nation's pre-revolution constitution, Tunisia's dominant, Islamist political party Ennahda has come under fire for its economic neo-liberalism, both from opponents and from coalition partners.

HUNGARY: ‘Unorthodoxy’ Fails, IMF Returns

By Zoltán Dujisin
A year after slamming the door on the International Monetary Fund and announcing that a small country like Hungary could pursue an independent economic policy, conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been forced to kneel to the IMF and ask for help. Was there ever an alternative?

Aid Not Enough to Fight AIDS

By Miriam Gathigah and - -
Billions of people are marking yet another World AIDS Day - this one themed "Getting to Zero", for zero AIDS-related deaths, zero new infections, and zero stigma and discrimination.

For Big Financial Institutions, Profit Trumps Women’s Rights

By Kanya D'Almeida
This year, for the first time, the World Bank dedicated its 2012 annual flagship World Development Report to women as indispensable players in the global economy and launched a media campaign to "think equal".

To Women’s Rights, Financial Institutions Pay Lip Service Only

By Kanya D'Almeida and - -
On day seven of "the 16 days of activism to end violence against women" campaign, women's rights organisations around the world are asking what the biggest international financial institutions (IFIs) are really doing to protect women's rights, which are under daily assault.

Aid Not Effectively Reaching Africa’s Poor

By Miriam Gathigah and - -
Kenyan tea and coffee farmers remain disgruntled about the minimal profits they make selling their cash crops, the country’s leading foreign currency earners, as the government receives millions in funding for training and subsidies that most of these farmers are yet to see materialise.

KYRGYZSTAN: Bishkek Struggling to Find Right Economic Path

By Nate Schenkkan
In a small office on the second floor of the Kyrgyzstan Stock Exchange, a lone administrator checked the time and looked up from the computer: "Two o'clock. No applications received. Auction for sale of Zalkar Bank is declared invalid."
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