Languages
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Eye on the IFIs
ENVIRONMENT-ASIA: Bank's Water Report – Wakeup Call for Leaders
A report released by the Asian Development Bank (AsDB) in this affluent city-state on Thursday urges the region’s policymakers to place water-related issues high on their development agenda.
FINANCE: New IMF Boss Caught Between North and South
Dominique Strauss-Kahn started his first day as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday amid contention over how the agency is governed and what role it fulfils.DEVELOPMENT: Pakistanis Challenge World Bank Over Water Works
Pakistani plaintiffs say the World Bank has yet to make good on promises to fix flaws blamed for lost lives and livelihoods along the world's largest irrigation system.FINANCE: World Bank Confronts Pygmy Challenge Over Logging
The World Bank is scrambling to respond to complaints that it broke its own rules to support commercial logging at the expense of Pygmy lands and livelihoods in the war-wrecked Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).DEVELOPMENT: Farming Boost Could Lift a Billion People
The World Bank urged greater investment in the developing world's farms Friday, warning that failure to boost agriculture would doom the international community's ambition to halve extreme poverty in the next eight years.FINANCE: IMF, World Bank Meetings: Agendas Great and Small
Downtown Washington has begun to resemble a menagerie as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) gear up for annual meetings.ECONOMY: In IMF Outlook, Cause for Pause
The International Monetary Fund's latest assessment of the world economy might resonate with developing countries, critics of economic globalisation, and proponents of tighter financial regulation alike.DEVELOPMENT: World Bank Chief Vows "Inclusive" Globalisation
Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president, pledged on Wednesday his agency would ensure that the world's poorest people share in the benefits of economic globalisation.FINANCE: Critics Press IMF on Social Spending
When Dominique Strauss-Kahn takes over as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month, he will confront demands for the agency to more actively support health and education spending in the world's poorest countries.
FINANCE: New IMF Boss Inherits Crises of Legitimacy, Relevance
Former French Socialist finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn is to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from November. He takes the helm amid deep division over how the agency is governed and its role in the global economy.CORRUPTION: World Bank Panel Urges Anti-Graft Overhaul
The World Bank has been hamstrung in its efforts to fight corruption by tension between its anti-graft unit and the rest of the lender's bureaucracy, an independent panel commissioned by the lender has said.
ENVIRONMENT: Critics Weigh In as IFC Tightens Mining Rules
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) faces pointed criticism in coming days as an effort to lessen the damage wrought by large mining projects enters a new phase.ENERGY: World Bank in Bid to Light Off-Grid Africa
The World Bank hopes to bring modern lighting to one-fourth of Africa's people by developing markets for products not hostage to fossil fuels or the continent's lamentable electricity grid.FINANCE: Europe, Russia Vie for IMF Top Job
Europe and Russia have squared off over who will head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as developing countries urge reforms so they can compete in future.DEVELOPMENT: Water as a Right and Key to Social Stability
A top United Nations official has learned through personal experience what it is like to live without safe drinking water during her visits home to the Tanzanian capital.Warning: getimagesize() expects parameter 1 to be string, object given in /chroot/home/gssn/ipsnews.net/html/wp-content/themes/ipsnews/functions.php on line 1100
Warning: basename() expects parameter 1 to be string, object given in /chroot/home/gssn/ipsnews.net/html/wp-content/themes/ipsnews/functions.php on line 1102
DEVELOPMENT-UGANDA: A Dam That Activists Simply Can’t Make Peace With
As preparations for construction of the Bujagali dam on the Nile River in Uganda gain momentum, a local civil society coalition is calling on the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to reconsider their decision to release funds for this hydro-electric project - which the World Bank estimates will cost 799 million dollars.POLITICS: Developing Nations Sidelined for IMF Top Job
A coalition of developing countries at the International Monetary Fund issued a tacit warning Monday that the highly political process of selecting the next IMF chief may be intimidating non-European countries from putting forth candidates, and further discrediting the institution.FINANCE: U.S. Brokers Afghan Debt Cancellation
The United States, Germany and Russia have agreed to write off one billion dollars in bilateral debts owed by Afghanistan, or 92 percent of the poor nation's debt to the three nations.ENVIRONMENT: UNEP Faults Asian Development Bank Project
A sharp difference of opinion between the Asian Development Bank (AsDB) and the United Nations Environment programme (UNEP) has surfaced over a flagship venture of the Manila-based financial institution.CORRUPTION: World Bank Debars Indian Firms in Fraud Probe
The World Bank ended a several-year investigation Monday by debarring two Indian pharmaceutical companies, citing corrupt procurement practices in a controversial Bank-funded reproductive health programme.FINANCE: World Bank Moves into the Middle East
The Middle East and North Africa region has become the fastest-growing area for investments from the World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which surpassed one billion dollars for the first time last year, according to the Bank Information Centre, a Washington-based research group on international public lenders.« 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
