In this column, Washington, D.C.-based journalist Toby J. McIntosh reports on the latest developments in information disclosure in International Financial and Trade Institutions (IFTI).
IFI Transparency Resource
A tool for comparing IFI transparency standards
Global Transparency Initiative
Accountability and International Financial Institutions – Deepening transparency and opening political space
6 January 2012
International financial institutions (IFIs) have “overbroad regimes of exceptions” in their transparency policies, according to a report issued by the Centre for Law and Democracy.
Particularly troublesome are the exceptions relating to internal deliberations and third-party commercial information, according to…
1 April 2010
As a major conference on aid to Haiti began in New York March 31, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations made a series of pro-transparency recommendations.
The recommendations “highlight the need to change the way donor states provide aid, by empowering…
24 September 2008
The IATA announcement came as 1,200 delegates from 120 countries met Sept. 2-4 to complete the “Accra Agenda for Action on Aid Effectiveness.”
Many civil society organisations dubbed the communiqué an “agenda for inaction.” Among other things, the groups wanted…
22 September 2006
A set of principles to inform the disclosure policies of international financial institutions was announced Sept. 17 in Batam, Indonesia, by the Global Transparency Initiative (GTI).
The nine principles were developed, with public comment, over the past year by the…
12 September 2005
The Asian Development Bank has pulled markedly ahead of other international financial institutions in its standards for disclosure and civic participation, but like its sister international organizations the ADB continues make slow progress when measured against the increasingly refined transparency…
1 June 2005
The Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar (R-Ind), has made transparency reforms the central focus of legislation that also would authorize U.S. contributions to five multilateral development banks.
Lugar’s bill contains instructions to the U.S.…
1 June 2003
The Group of Eight countries, meeting in Evian, France, on June 2 restated their support for some additional transparency at the multilateral development banks and added a new endorsement, for greater disclosure by corporations and governments of the revenues from…
1 April 2003
A number of new advocacy plans are under way, outgrowths of a meeting in early February attended by several dozen transparency activists from around the world.
Brought together for the weekend session by freedominfo.org (with grant funding from the Arca…
1 April 2003
A new microscope being applied to international financial institutions is making it possible for the first time to see their information disclosure policies in high definition.
A 255-item matrix, focused on 10 institutions, is making possible the most sophisticated comparison…
1 January 2003
Most international financial institutions are engaged in reviewing their information disclosure policies, according to a freedominfo.org survey.
The banks’ reform efforts are at various stages, and their plans continue to face criticism from nongovernmental institutions.
In surveying activity at various…
1 October 2002
By Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South, October 2002
Multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Band (ADB) and the World Bank pride themselves on their information disclosure policies. Especially since the Asian economic crisis, they have held their…
In this column, Washington, D.C.-based journalist Toby J. McIntosh reports on the latest developments in information disclosure in International Financial and Trade Institutions (IFTI).
Contact: tmcintosh@bna.com or
1-(703) 341-5815
