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 …
MORE THAN 50 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from across the world met recently in the sub-Saharan city of Bamako as a prelude to the intergovernmental convention on desertification, which was proposed by African countries at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. When the industrialised countries did not show much interest …
SUB-SAHARAN Africa's debts have increased three-fold since 1980 and the only prospect is that the arrears will mount as just half the scheduled payments are being met. Solutions being explored range from implementing the so-called Trinidad terms to creating a UN Economic Security Council (ESC), whose 11 permanent members would …
LIGHTING offers much scope for improving energy efficiency in Pakistan, according to the country's National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON), which says the energy savings potential in lighting exceeds 50 per cent nationwide. Using a World Bank-format for planning, ENERCON is seeking funding to implement a five-year energy efficiency improvement programme …
THE MONSOONS in Bangladesh have once again triggered floods, displacing 1.5 million people. The worst affected are Sylhet and Chittagong, where road and rail links with the rest of the country were snapped. Bangladesh, located in the delta regions of two major rivers, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, receives vast …
CHINA'S plan to build the Three Gorges dam across the Yangtze river with a 185-m-high reservoir level "would not be an economically viable proposition", according to the World Bank. Probe International reports the World Bank endorsed a Canadian feasibility study of the dam, which contained evidence that raising the water …
ENVIRONMENTAL NGOs in the US are rushing ahead of their government in both their desire and actions to act as the world's green helmets. A statement issued by the Environment Defence Fund and other US environmental groups at the time of the G-7 Tokyo Summit against the World Bank loan …
AS ONE of the most ambitious blueprints for energy and industrial development takes shape in Singrauli, the inhabitants of the region are sinking deeper into misery for they know a new project always means another displacement for them. In 1960, when the Rihand dam was built on the Son river, …
Why have some World Bank members opposed the NTPC loan on environmental grounds? Our plants meet almost every Indian emission standard, which was a bank conditionality. If we can be trusted with projects worth $9 billion, we can be trusted to look after the environment, too. The Environment Defense Fund …
THOUGH Singrauli's thermal power plants have affected the availability of potable water in the area, studies show they have contributed only marginally to the high levels of dust and gaseous effluents there. None of the wells in the area supply potable water that meets official Indian standards. Water from wells …
AN ENVIRONMENTAL and socioeconomic survey of Singrauli was commissioned in May 1988 by the National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) and executed by the French public sector corporation, Electricite de France International. Indian voluntary and environmental groups working in the area protested against being left out from the assessment team and …
AS PART of a plan to improve the effectiveness of its lending, the World Bank has raised by 12 per cent the budget for its supervision activities for the current year. To manage projects better, the Bank intends to classify them according to country instead of project by project. The …
WITH THE World Bank sanctioning a $400 million loan to the National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC), the Singrauli Super Thermal Power Station (SSTPS) has received a fresh lease on life -- but only just. USA, Germany and Belgium abstained from voting at the bank's June 29 meeting, citing environmental reasons. …
THERE is more to health policy than just policy for the health sector. But the World Development Report 1993 clearly shows the mandarins -- read health experts -- of the World Bank have trivialised the issue because holism is a philosophy they still have to learn. Surely, for a hungry …
THE INTERNATIONAL Flood Action Campaign Committee says the Flood Action Plan (FAP) for Bangladesh, coordinated by the World Bank, ignores environmental aspects and will uproot thousands of people. The Brussels-based coalition of European parliamentarians, nongovernmental organisations and academics, demands environmental impact studies be done before project work begins. This could …
What are your reactions to the government finally agreeing to your demand for talks on SSP? It's a big step forward for NBA to have brought the government to the negotiating table after two abortive attempts. We are fully confident these discussions will culminate in a review of the project. …
THE GLOBAL Environment Facility (GEF) meeting in Beijing recently marked the beginning of the first year after Rio. And it set the tone for the green world order of tomorrow -- a world in which Southern governments are conciliatory but persistent with their demand for more green funds; in which …
THERE are few words in the English language as evocative as population. Most tongues would wag it as something uncontrollable. It also evokes the notion of pressure, of human flotsam spilling over national boundaries. Among development experts, it evokes the concept of irresponsible procreation, and insufficient funding for birth control …
AFTER struggling for eight long years against the massive Narmada dam, the people of the valley are still caught between the devil and the deep blue sea -- in this case, the threat of submergence on one hand, and a repressive government machinery on the other. The doughty anti-Narmada crusader, …
LABELLING the government's forest policy, in force since 1988, as monopolistic and inefficient, the World Bank (WB) insists the best solution now would be to encourage private industrial plantations on forest lands. WB has issued its latest review of the country's forest sector, describing it as an "overview...for Indian policy …
WORLD Bank documents reveal the following stages in its forestry policy evaluation: 1950-1978:Concentration on industrial plantations and logging operations. 1978-1990: -- Thrust on social forestry (developing fuelwood plantations) and watershed management. Forestry included in such sectors as rural development, agriculture, irrigation and energy. 1991: revision -- Focus on protection of …
