(December 28, 2007) Martin Weiss, an analyst with the Congressional Research Service, the public policy research arm of the U.S. Congress, has published an updated paper about the treatment of Iraq’s debts by creditor nations following the fall of Saddam Hussein.
First the mutiny, then the silver
(December 19, 2007) In the wake of a staff mutiny against former World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, the U.K. edition of The Economist notes that the lending giant’s new head, Robert Zoellick, has raised a windfall in support from rich countries.
World Bank continues Philippines loan freeze; officials talk back
(December 12, 2007) The World Bank has said it will not approve a $232 million loan to the Philippines until it is convinced anti-corruption measures have been put in place to protect the project the funds are intended for. The loan, due for approval on Dec. 13, was slated for a road building contract but was blocked by the Bank after the Chinese contractor was found to have been involved in bid rigging.
China’s Sinohydro in MDB-backed road-and-rail megaproject
(December 10, 2007) Eight countries have signed an agreement to spend $18.7 billion on roads and railways linking central Asia to China and Europe, Financial Times reports.
World bankruptcy
(November 28, 2007) When the World Bank staff staged a coup against then-President Paul Wolfowitz earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal editorials argued that one motivation was to stop his anti-corruption fight. Now The WSJ describes “another backroom putsch,” this time against Suzanne Rich Folsom, the head of the bank’s anticorruption unit (INT, or department of institutional integrity).
China’s Three Gorges Corporation vying to build world’s largest hydro project in Central Africa
(June 22, 2007) As China’s Three Gorges dam nears completion, the company responsible for building and financing the world’s largest dam is vying to construct an even more ambitious hydro project in central Africa.
Probe International opposes World Bank financing for Congo dams
(May 28, 2007) Probe International tells the World Bank to halt all loans to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Inga dam project until those affected by the dam are provided with the water, sanitation, electricity, health and education services promised to them more than 30 years ago.
EIB, AFDB add to bank funding for Bujagali
(May 14, 2007) The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank (AFDB) have approved loans for the 250MW Bujagali hydro project in Uganda close on the heels of the World Bank greenlight on funding.
Never mind Wolfowitz: Scrap the World Bank
(May 10, 2007) The kerfuffle over whether Paul Wolfowitz, the World Bank’s president, behaved badly regarding the contract for his companion to facilitate her departure from the bank involves no large issue. The bank’s existence does. The bank’s rationale, never strong, has evaporated.
Graft Fights Back
(May 9, 2007) A majority on the World Bank’s board, many of whom are directors from Third World countries opposed to president Paul Wolfowitz’s anti-corruption campaign, understandably want him out. But why is the World Bank Group Staff Association so intent on getting rid of Wolfowitz?
Predatory lending
(May 4, 2007) In the flap over Paul Wolfowitz’s "sweetheart deal" for Shaha Riza, World Bank staffers are demanding his resignation to protect the "credibility" of the Bank. This is rich.
Carbon Boondoggles
(April 26, 2007) To reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, Canada’s federal government plans to push Canadian corporations into buying carbon credits under the so-called “Clean Development Mechanism” (CDM), a system established under the Kyoto Protocol by which companies in rich countries buy “rights to pollute” from companies in poor countries. The poor-country companies, in exchange, promise to give up their own greenhouse-gas producing activities.
Internal Attack
(April 17, 2007) Since its creation in 1944, the World Bank has become the world’s leading architect of Third World corruption. In the Third World countries themselves, the World Bank has created hundreds of state-owned enterprises and then lavished them with money, requiring their officials to subject themselves neither to public oversight nor the bank’s own scrutiny. Among the Western suppliers to these corrupt state corporations, the bank awarded billions of dollars in contracts, again without public oversight or bank scrutiny, let alone market discipline.
Lugar supports EBRD decision
(March 2, 2007) The decision marks the first time any development bank has debarred a company for fraud or corruption committed in a project financed by another MDB.
Bank’s graft crusade exaggerated, critics say
(February 7, 2007) Watchdog groups cite conflicts of interest in the Bank’s core mission, and the Washington-based lender’s keenness to brush up its image.
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