The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
INDIANS ELECTED: Two Indian scientists, Goverdhan Mehta and Anupam Varma, have been elected to the International Council for Science (ICSU) regional committee for Asia and the Pacific. Mehta, former director of the Indian Institute of Science and vice chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, has been elected president of the …
the European Investment Bank (eib) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ebrd), announced on October 6, 2005, that they would take into account the international standard for dam-building set by the World Commission on Dams (wcd). The eib told International Rivers Network (irn), a us -based ngo, it …
I write this because of the continued ineptness of its policies. It makes us lose time and direction again and again. Just look at the latest so-called water privatisation programme of the Bank and the Delhi government. It is a 24x7 water distribution scheme. Parts of the city will be …
The World Bank (wb) has 184 member countries, but only one, the us, selects its president. In March 2005, the Bush administration anointed Paul Wolfowitz
up environment policy: Voicing concerns over rising pollution levels, the Uttar Pradesh Government is formulating a new environment policy, as per Supreme Court recommendations. This is to be enforced by the end of 2005. Ujjawal Raman, minister, environment department said that the levels of air, noise and water pollution in …
the recently concluded annual meeting of the World Bank (wb) and the International Monetary Fund (imf) in Washington agreed to implement the debt cancellation proposals of the g8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland. The agreement to write off us$57.5 billion debt to ease the burden on impoverished nations will benefit 18 …
This article looks at the emerging policy context on irrigation and drinking water supply in Jharkhand, the position of water rights in state legislation, the importance of water user groups, the critical issues of access to water for both the rural and the urban poor and the legal implications.
A leaked internal audit has revealed the World Bank's stark negligence in its involvement with a notoriously controversial new gold mine in Guatemala. The confidential draft report by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (cao), an internal watchdog at the International Finance Corporation (ifc)
What, initially, sparked off the report? I first heard of Sterlite Industries in 2000 and, a little later, of the debacle surrounding the Tuticorin smelter, which I visited in 2003 as a consultant with mmp India (Mines, Minerals & People, a national alliance of groups against destructive mining). When Vedanta …
Roshan Lal (name changed), a resident of Noida, Uttar Pradesh (up), finds it strange that the Indian government could be contemplating eradicating leprosy by 2005 end. At The Leprosy Mission Hospital, Nand Nagari, Delhi, Lal is undergoing reconstructive surgery on his deformed hands and says he sees enough new patients …
On June 11, 2005 finance ministers of g 8 nations (excluding Russia) promised loftily to cancel 100 per cent debts, amounting to us $40 billion, owed by the world's 18 poorest countries to the World Bank (wb), the International Monetary Fund (imf) and the African Development Bank. The countries will …
The Amazon rainforests have a new enemy: soya bean. According to deforestation figures released by the Brazilian government recently, a huge forest area of 26,130 square kilometres (sq km) was destroyed in the year ending August 2004, mainly by soya bean farmers. The destruction was almost six per cent higher …
Bully's immunity: Bangladesh is witnessing a nationwide protest against the government's move to allow blanket immunity to the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The International Financial Organisation (Amendment) Act 2004, which has allegedly been drafted by the government under WB's pressure, has been ratified by the …
the World Bank (wb) has chosen Raymond Lafitte, professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, to mediate in the India-Pakistan dispute over Baglihar Hydroelectric Project, being constructed on the Chenab river in India. Lafitte is also the president of the International Hydropower Association, a non-governmental grouping of …
The purpose of this article is to describe and evaluate the ecotourism project at the Periyar Tiger Reserve (Thekkady), in Kerala, India. The Ministry of Environment has undertaken to promote local community participation in forest management, through the
Paul Wolfowitz, deputy us defence secretary, will take over as president of the World Bank (wb) when James Wolfensohn steps down in mid-2005. The ultimate shareholders of the World Bank
in paul wolfowitz's selection as World Bank president, global democracy has taken a sharp fall. Since its formation after World War II, the president of the bank has been nominated by the us , with European powers always nodding approval. In return, Europe gets to nominate the International Monetary Fund's …
Mumbai’s Slum Sanitation Programme that seeks community responsibility and its involvement in the setting up of sanitation facilities in living areas holds out important lessons for similar collaborative endeavours between the government, funding agencies, civil society organisations and the affected community. While such a broadly participatory approach ensures the accrual …
The world's 81 poorest nations will now get more aid. The development fund of the World Bank's (wb's ) International Development Association for providing aid to these countries was recently raised from us $23 billion to us $34 billion. This is the biggest increase in funding for the programme in …
