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 …
US TREASURY secretary Lloyd Benen said his country favoured World Bank funding of programmes to help people affected by war, civil strife and economic mismanagement, and demanded specific targets be set for the purpose. The Bank president, Lewis Preston, said poverty eradication "must be at the centre of our overall …
RICH INDIVIDUALS usually tend to be arrogant. So do rich institutions, such as the World Bank, which is prepared to accept, albeit after much pushing and prodding, that it may have been wrong in hindsight. But it is definitely not prepared to accept, at any given moment, that it is …
THE END of the East-West conflict and growing Western interest in environment is, at the root, interestingly, of the changes taking place in the UN. The stimulus for change comes from the organisation's major contributors, mainly the US, who had used the world body in the past to score successes …
Even as Union finance minister Manmohan Singh proclaimed the success of liberalisation and globalisation of the country's economy before World Bank officials in April this year, the Clinton administration targeted India for discriminatory sanctions under the Special 301 provisions of the US Trade Act. This is the third time since …
THOUGH the implementation of a structural adjustment programme has yet to be announced by either Indonesia or the World Bank, recent events indicate such a step has already been taken. The 1993-94 Indonesian budget increases total income-tax revenue by 36 per cent and also raises the cost of transport, electricity …
1931: The British government proposes a plan for development of the Narmada valley. 1961: Jawaharlal Nehru lays the foundation stone of the Sardar Sarovar project. 1969: A Narmada tribunal is set up to decide water distribution. 1974: At Indira Gandhi's behest, Rajasthan is given 1,215 million cubic metres (cum) and …
AT THE World Bank (WB) executive committee meeting in October 1992, held to decide future funding for the Sardar Sarovar project, the opinions expressed were in three main categories: China, Libya and Kuwait felt the WB should continue funding and reject a report by Bradford Morse, a former US senator …
A HINT that Washington may soften its opposition to measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions was given at the recent session of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in New York. In an implicit dig at the Bush administration's attitude -- which was widely blamed for watering down the terms …
DELIVERANCE for the World Bank (WB) could be damnation for the Indian government. When India surprisingly announced on March 30 that it would reject WB aid of Rs 500 crore for the Rs 13,000-crore Sardar Sarovar project, some observers commented the WB had arm-twisted India into refusing its funds for …
RESETTLEMENT of people against their will constitutes a "gross violation of human rights", according to a resolution adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights at a recent meeting in Geneva. The resolution was put together by groups led by Habitat International Coalition of Mexico. It applies to resettlement due …
Silk has joined carpets on the list of Indian industries that are frowned on in the West because of the extensive use of child labour. The Germans first voiced complaints against the carpet industry, and now the Swiss are taking aim at silk-weaving. The Swiss, who in partnership with the …
FINANCE Minister Manmohan Singh has presented a budget that seeks to push the economy from stabilisation to growth, through structural adjustments. In order to give a boost to exporters, he has moved from partial to full convertibility and reduced customs duties on imports. To ensure there is no resulting threat …
SOUTH-EAST Asian and Pacific countries could banish poverty "within a generation or so", suggests a forthcoming World Bank report. South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand are listed in the report as having good prospects of continuing their present dramatic growth rates, but , Indonesia, the Philippines and the Pacific island states …
THE WORLD Bank has approved a $70 million loan to finance the 450-MW hydroelectric dam on Chile's biggest river, the Bio Bio. The loan was sanctioned by the bank's International Finance Corp (IFC), which lends to the private sector, even before the Pangue dam's environmental impact assessment by the bank …
ERSTWHILE Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar's refusal to give formal commitment to the World Bank on withdrawing the state's apple subsidy has cost the state Rs 150 crore in World Bank aid on integrated horticulture development. Though Kumar withdrew the subsidy in spite of opposition from the state's apple …
GROWING awareness over the last decade of the negative consequences of industrialisation in the South, led to many forms of cooperation between environmental organisations in the North and the South, including campaigns against large- scale World Bank projects and destruction of rain forests in Latin America. But Northern NGOs have …
RESTRUCTURING the United Nations -- a subject actively debated internationally for several years now -- may soon become reality. Though the precise nature of changes in the UN system remains nebulous, the broad contours are quite evident. Various arms of the organisation have already undergone transformation. The secretary-general"s office, evolved …
Despite hectic campaigning by the groups opposed to the Narmada dam plus a hefty boost from the anti-dam salvo fired by Bradford Morse and Thomas Berger, who formed a two-member independent review commission, the World Bank has taken a decision to continue funding the Sardar Sarovar project. However, in April …
INDIA is lobbying hard and activists are stepping up pressure as the World Bank prepares to take a decision in October on a suggestion to "suspend" but not terminate aid for the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada river. Two Indian delegations visited the US, the UK, Japan, the Netherlands, …
UN SECRETARY general Boutros Boutros-Ghali's suggestion that the North and South should share equally the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Commission for Sustainable Development (UNCSD) leadership has failed to enthuse Europeans and Americans. Mustafa Tolba (?), enjoying the support of UNCSD secretary general Maurice Strong, is virtually …
