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 …
KOLKATA: A World Bank economist has said that the lender will fund only those hydropower projects where safeguards are in place to prevent any adverse impact on the environment. "We are prepared to support only those good hydro-power projects in India which make economic sense as well as take socio-environment …
The worst Ebola outbreak on record is an “extraordinary event” and a public health risk to other countries, the World Health Organization said. “The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus,” the Geneva-based United Nations health agency said. “A coordinated …
THE World Bank Group, yesterday, committed $5 billion in new technical and financial support for energy projects in six African countries, including Nigeria. Others are, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, and Tanzania—which have partnered with President Obama’s Power Africa initiative. Making the announcement on the second day of the first US-Africa …
THE World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) are preparing as much as $260 million in emergency funding to help Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea contain the spread of Ebola and limit its economic impact. The World Bank pledged as much as $200 million in response to calls by …
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has made impressive progress in reducing absolute poverty and improving shared prosperity, according to World Bank (WB) report. The percentage of the population below the national poverty rate has fallen from 34.7 percent in financial year 2002 to an estimated 13.6 percent in financial year 2011, according to …
The World Bank has announced that it is allocating $200m (£120m) in emergency assistance for West African countries battling to contain the Ebola outbreak. The money will be distributed to the governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea as well as to the World Health Organization (WHO). The number of …
Purchasing power parity revision set to alter poverty estimation; fall won't be so steep once the global poverty line is revised too The number of poor people in India, as counted by the world, will soon change dramatically. The World Bank has revised the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) index and …
The World Bank has been working to update safeguards intended to ensure that development projects it backs don’t hurt people or the environment. But environmental and civil activists are pushing back on a draft of proposed safeguards leaked last week, arguing they would weaken the standards and fail to adequately …
Revised rules may dilute existing norms, fear civil rights bodies The World Bank is set to revise its safeguard policies for lending, which, if implemented, will ensure that the projects that the Bank is funding follow norms to protect environment and vulnerable communities. But, the civil rights organisations feel that …
The incoming president of Indonesia, a holdout in Southeast Asia’s pact to fight haze, is backing Singapore’s plan to wield heftier fines against overseas polluters as long as sovereignty is respected. A year after the city-state endured its worst-ever air quality, Singapore presented a bill to Parliament this month that …
An expert at an energy forum in Beijing, citing a study, said that burning coal to provide heating for residents in the city has cut people's life expectancy by 5 years. Wang Min, expert from Beijing University's China Center for Economic Research, gave a speech about China's energy issues at …
The World Bank will support the Democratic Republic of Congo’s plans to build the Inga 3 hydroelectric dam to narrow the power shortage in Africa’s largest copper producer. “It’s good for growth and good for climate change,” Mahktar Diop, World Bank vice president for Africa, told reporters in Kinshasa yesterday. …
FANS of the China model frequently say that, for all the disadvantages of a one-party state, there are also benefits. Enforcing basic health care is one—and by no means a small one. Last year China’s mortality rate for children under five years old was just one-fifth the rate it was …
Bank prez Jim Yong Kim hails Gujarat biz model, learns about Modi govt's development priorities The World Bank said it is ready to commit $15-18 billion to support India over the next three years, even as its president endorsed the business model of Gujarat, the state that Narendra Modi ruled …
CHENNAI: Encroachers will now have to think twice before illegally constructing or taking up settlement on the dry beds of water bodies. Each water body in the state, big or small, will henceforth have a numeric code with the state government embarking upon a project to digitise the records. A …
West Bengal's best-known expert on rivers, Kalyan Rudra, 62, and Babu Bhai, a 32-year-old fisherman, have a common lament-hilsa, the fish that can tingle Bengali taste buds like nothing else on earth, has gone missing from the Ganga. The fisherman, who's plied his little boat from the rusty jetty at …
THE World Bank yesterday said that it and its private sector arm have committed concessional loans of up to US$4.2 billion to the Philippines to help the country reduce poverty, create jobs and sustain growth as it recovers from the impact of a devastating typhoon and separatist rebellion. The World …
Chief Minister seeks technical support on various projects With the World Bank coming forth to fund projects for the promotion of religious, heritage, health and ethnic tourism, State Government was on Tuesday asked to work out various modalities so that Punjab was placed as a global destination on the international …
The World Bank has systemic defects in its procedures to ensure that people and the environment are not harmed in development projects, according to an internal review obtained by Reuters. The global development lender is undergoing the first major update to its social and environmental protections in decades, which are …
World Bank's recent report, "cleaning Pakistan's Air" has drawn our attention to the deteriorating environmental conditions in Pakistan and especially about air pollution. More than 20,000 deaths are reportedly caused every year by environmental reasons. Motorization is on the rise which is a principal source of air pollution in Pakistan. …
