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10 February 2012
World Bank Consulting on Accountability Concepts
The World Bank is a beginning stakeholder consultations on its Global Partnership for Social Accountability initiative “aimed at strengthening beneficiary feedback and participation by supporting civil society capacity to engage with governments to improve development effectiveness.”
Having sought out initial… -
3 February 2012
World Bank’s New Lending Tool Less Than Transparent
By Karen Orenstein
Orenstein is International Policy Campaigner for Friends of the Earth U.S. This article first appeared Jan 31, 2012, on the FOE blog.The World Bank last week decided to take a significant step backwards on social and…
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27 January 2012
World Bank Evaluator to Release Research Data
The World Bank Independent Evaluation Group Jan. 27 announced that it has made available the data backing up its review of the Bank’s governance and anticorruption efforts (GAC).
The, IEG has disclosed “its entire data set of results from its… -
27 January 2012
World Bank Comments on Google Arrangement
By Nathaniel Heller
Heller is managing Director of Global Integrity, a Washingon-based nongovernmental organization, and this was posted Jan. 23 on the Global Integrity blog. A Jan. 20 Heller post describes his conversations with Bank officials on the topic.
Last… -
20 January 2012
World Bank Document Raises Controversy in Philippines
The disclosure of a World Bank document indicating possible misuse of Bank funds in the Philippines has raised a controversy and raised questions about the handling of such Bank documents.
The Bank’s aide memoire details “ineligible expenditures” to support a… -
20 January 2012
Worries about Google’s Deal with the World Bank
By Nathaniel Heller
Heller is Managing Director of Global Integrity. His article appeared on a Global Integrity blog.
Yesterday we tweeted that we were hearing concerns about the recently signed deal between Google and the World Bank that will allow the… -
6 January 2012
IFIs Faulted for Exemptions in Disclosure Policies
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… -
12 December 2011
World Bank Posts Digest of Sanctions Board Decisions
The World Bank Dec. 9 announced the creation of a Sanctions Board Law Digest, “publicly detailing for the first time the rationale behind how the Bank Group holds entities accountable for fraud, corruption, and other wrongdoing.”
The independent Sanctions Board… -
14 October 2011
World Bank Proposal Said to Undercut Access Policy
A World Bank proposal to revamp a substantial portion of its lending program would circumvent existing transparency requirements, among other things, according to critics.
The disclosure implications of the so-called Program for Results (P4R) are negative, according to civil society… -
9 September 2011
Public Interest Appeals to World Bank Unsuccessful
Appeals to the World Bank to release information “in the public interest” that otherwise is deemed confidential under Bank policies have been unsuccessful so far, according to Bank reports.
However, in a recent appeal case, the Bank’s Access to Information… -
2 August 2011
IFC Issues New Policies, Including on Disclosure
The World Bank’s private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, has issued a new disclosure policy.
The policy, approved May 12 and effective Jan. 1, 2012, is part of a larger package known as the “Sustainability Framework.”
The Sustainability… -
29 July 2011
Groups Urge World Bank to Reinvigorate B-SPAN
Several organizations have written to World Bank President Robert Zoellick urging him to expand funding for B-SPAN, the Bank’s internet-based webcasting system.
The issue was highlighted in an article by David Wheeler of the Center for Global Development, a Washington… -
22 July 2011
World Bank Posts Data on Finances, Urges Exploration
The World Bank has posted data online on its own finances.
“The goal of this website is to make data related to the Bank’s financials available to everybody in a social, interactive, visually compelling, and machine readable format,” according to… -
22 April 2011
World Bank Issues Annexes to Access Handbook
The World Bank has released “attachments” to the staff handbook on how to follow the new access to information policy, after having resisted their release for months on the grounds that they concerned “Corporate Administrative Matters.”
The Bank voluntarily released… -
15 April 2011
World Bank Names Winners of Apps Contest
The World Bank April 14 named the winners of a contest to develop digital apps using the Bank’s data.
The three winning apps “all feature unique approaches to pressing development challenges,” according to the Bank release which listed the winners:… -
7 April 2011
Zoellick Says Work Bank Promoting Transparency
World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick April 6 lauded the Bank’s work on making itself more transparent and helping national governments become more transparent, and noted the revival of interest in freedom of information in Egypt and Tunisia.
His comments came… -
21 January 2011
World Bank Sets Rules on Public Interest Review
The World Bank Access to Information Committee has determined that the World Bank staffers, not the committee, will make the calls on requests for documents under five years old when the requester argues that disclosure is in the public interest…
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24 December 2010
IFC Issues Redrafted Disclosure Policy Proposal
The World Bank’s private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, has issued a new proposal on access to information that continues to be more restrictive than the World Bank’s own new policy.
During “Phase III” of its consultations, the… -
22 December 2010
World Bank Issues Report on First Months of New Policy
The World Bank’s first report on its new Access to Information policy recounts a major internal education effort, reviews the levels of requests, and reveals some of the first interpretations of the policy since it went into effect July 1.…
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5 November 2010
WB Pledged to Disclose Extinct Meeting Summaries
By Toby McIntosh
In the spring of 2009, in the midst of consultations about a new disclosure policy for the World Bank, pro-transparency advocates urged the Bank to disclose the “Summaries of Discussion” prepared for many years about the meetings… -
22 October 2010
Academics Top Requesters Under New Bank Policy
The World Bank received 160 information requests in the first three months of its new Access to Information policy, according to a recent presentation by a Bank official.
Between July 1 (the effective date of the policy) and Sept.30th, the… -
15 October 2010
World Bank Releases Few Summaries of Meetings
By Toby McIntosh
The “summaries” of World Bank Executive Board meetings now being disclosed under the Bank’s new Access to Information policy are substantially shorter and less comprehensive than the summaries prepared before the Bank agreed to release them, according to a… -
9 October 2010
World Bank Offers Prizes for Apps Using Bank Data
The World Bank has offered prizes for the developers of software applications using World Bank data.
The software applications must raise awareness of one or more of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or contribute toward meeting them.
Submissions may be… -
29 September 2010
BIC Leader Suggests More Uniform IFI Disclosure Policies
International financial institutions should align their disclosure policies, according to the director of a leading advocacy group favoring more liberal IFI disclosure policies.
Chad Dobson, the executive director of the Bank Information Center in Washington, made his suggestion Sept. 28… -
28 September 2010
BIC Issues Guide to World Bank Information
The Bank Information Center, a Washington-based nongovernmental organization, has issued a “toolkit” to finding information at the World Bank.
The document, “Unlocking the World Bank’s Access to Information Policy,” was written by former Bank information expert Veronique Danforth, and has… -
3 September 2010
Lebanese CSOs React to Disclosure of Strategy
It’s still early days for the World Bank’s new policy of disclosing certain documents in advance of Executive Board meetings, so lessons about it are just trickling in.
The policy gives interested parties a last chance to comment on upcoming… -
5 August 2010
World Bank Releases Lebanon Strategy Document, A First
By Toby McIntosh
The World Bank Aug. 4 issued the first documents under its new “simultaneous disclosure” policy, including a proposed Country Partnership Strategy for Lebanon.
Under the new disclosure policy, the public gets a look at certain key proposals… -
16 July 2010
IFC Rewrite of Disclosure Policy Criticized
The International Finance Corporation’s proposed changes to its disclosure policy are inadequate, according to environmental and development policy groups.
Their critiques were voiced recently during a consultation meeting with staff members at the IFC, the World Bank’s private sector lending… -
2 July 2010
World Bank Inaugurates New Disclosure Policy
By Toby McIntosh
The World Bank July 1 began applying its new disclosure policy, with enhanced web pages and the announcement of the three members on its appeals body.
One of the major reforms in the new policy is the… -
28 May 2010
IFC Draft Disclosure Policy: Minuses and Pluses
The World Bank’s private sector lending arm has proposed a new disclosure policy that offers a few advances, but generally falls short of the standard set late last year by its parent organization. Among other things, the International Finance Corporation has not followed suit on the disclosure of staff recommendations in advance of board meetings.
Nor does… -
23 April 2010
World Bank Expands Access to Statistical Data
The World Bank April 20 announced increased access to its statistical databases and challenged the global community “to use the data to create new applications and solutions to help poor people in the developing world,” according to its press release.…
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1 April 2010
Groups Seek Transparency for Aid to Haiti
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… -
12 March 2010
Civil Society Groups Seek More Disclosure by IFC
A consortium of civil society groups March 8 urged the IFC to be more responsive to environmental and social concerns, and also suggested a variety of disclosure policy reforms. These comments, signed by nearly 100 organizations from 38 countries, were submitted as the IFC conducts a review of the implementation and effectiveness of its Social and…
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14 January 2010
Inspection Panel Case Plants Seeds of Cultural Change at World Bank
A complaint brought by a Yemeni organization to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel has produced some positive and unexpected results: a much delayed translation of a key program document that had sparked the original complaint, and an ambitious action plan, drawn…
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24 December 2009
Simultaneous Disclosure Another Major Improvement
One of the topics that remained under discussion was a change perhaps equally important to the adoption of a presumption of disclosure. The Board, despite some dissension, took a major step toward letting the public know what more about staff…
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2 December 2009
World Bank Cautious on Media Development
The goal of strengthening the media as one way to fight corruption was adopted by the World Bank in 2006, but the promise has gone virtually unfulfilled, according to research by freedominfo.org.
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18 November 2009
World Bank Board Broadens Access in New Disclosure Policy
The World Bank’s executive directors November 17 approved a new policy on access to information that will mean significantly more transparency about Bank decision making and operations. The Bank’s press release said, “The new policy represents a fundamental shift in the Bank’s approach to disclosure of information—moving from an approach that spells out what documents it can [...]
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4 November 2009
GTI Praises, Criticizes World Bank Disclosure Proposal
The World Bank’s proposed disclosure policy falls well short of its potential, but it still will bring greater transparency to the Bank, according to the Global Transparency Initiative, an international nongovernmental organization. The GTI November 3 sent the Bank extensive new comments, including many recommendations to improve the policy, which the Bank’s Executive Board is scheduled [...]
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12 October 2009
World Bank Paradigm Shift for Disclosure Policy Subject to Variety of Limitations, Caveats, Exceptions
The World Bank staff October 2 proposed a new disclosure policy that would take some big steps, but also some sidesteps.
The draft on which public comment has been invited probably will be discussed by the Executive Board November 17.… -
11 September 2009
IFC Announces Plans to Review Disclosure Policy
The World Banks private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, announced a review of its disclosure policy on September 8, a 15-month process to be done in conjunction with a review of its environmental and social policies.
The IFCs… -
11 September 2009
Rep. Frank Urges World Bank to Make Transparency Reforms
US Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said September 10 that the World Bank should improve its disclosure policy and remove the anti-labor bias from its Doing Business report or else risk reduced US funding.
Franks message was delivered at a hearing… -
9 September 2009
World Bank May Disclose Documents Going to the Board
The World Bank may be moving toward major breakthroughs in transparency for its Executive Board, according to informed sources. One change being contemplated would provide for the public release of key staff recommendations at the same time they are sent…
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19 June 2009
World Bank Internal Evaluation Group Posts Disclosure Policy
On June 18, the World Bank’s Internal Evaluation Group (IEG) posted its 2004 disclosure policy on its home page for the first time.
The absence of the policy came to light because of indications that IEG plans to rewrite its… -
1 June 2009
No Consultation Planned for IEG Disclosure Policy Review
With the Bank as a whole reconsidering its disclosure policy, the IEG is planning an update of its own. The Bank has released an “Approach Paper” outlining its ideas for changes, but IEG plans has not issued a proposal and…
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28 May 2009
Bank Proposal Called Too Broad
The Bank has proposed to follow the principle that most documents should be disclosed, subject to stated exceptions, but the GTI called the suggested exemptions “overly-broad.”
“Most of the exceptions proposed in Section C of the Approach Paper do not… -
26 May 2009
Secret Summaries of World Bank Meetings Illuminate Proceedings
The “minutes” of the World Bank’s executive board meetings, released publicly, are brief notations of the official action, usually one paragraph.
They reveal almost nothing about what transpired during the closed deliberations.
The “summaries,” by contrast, describe the key… -
30 April 2009
World Bank Disclosure Proposal Assessed at Consultation
The World Banks proposals to alter its disclosure policy were praised for moving in the right direction but criticized for not going far enough at a three-hour consultation held April 25 in Washington, DC.
Peter Harrold, Director of Operations Services… -
21 April 2009
Yemeni Group Says Lack of Translation Inhibited Transparency
On April 13, 2009, the Yemen Observatory for Human Rights, a civil society organization based in Sana’a, officially submitted their case regarding the World Bank’s translation framework to the World Bank Inspection Panel.
The forthcoming case is the culmination of… -
21 April 2009
Disclosure Allegations about the West African Gas Pipeline Project
In 2006, a case was brought to the Inspections Panel over the controversial West African Gas Pipeline Project. The list of disclosure-related allegations was extensive. According to the complainants, although West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) periodically consulted landowners, other…
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8 April 2009
World Bank Consultation Plan Slow Developing
Weeks after announcing plans for consultations on a proposed new disclosure policy, the World Bank April 6 provided dates for the first nine of 30 planned world-wide consultations sessions, giving a week’s notice for the first one.
The first meeting… -
17 March 2009
International Donors Engage Vietnam on Press Freedom
International donors are encouraging the Vietnamese government to improve the environment for the media there after a widely condemned year of repression.
Whether the unusual behind-the-scenes pressure makes a difference remains to be seen, but the coordinated action may be… -
17 March 2009
Hello, Hello: Calling the World Bank
Finding the World Bank’s front door in order to ask for nonpublic information isn’t easy.
Here’s the right answer: pic@worldbank.org
Value that answer; getting it took a while.
Here’s my saga. Actually, I started in the right place and then… -
17 March 2009
World Bank Rejects Disclosure of Aide Memoires
The World Bank has rejected a request by a civil society group for a key document about a major water project in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The denial is not unexpected — it follows the letter of the…
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16 March 2009
Reasons for Reform Cited
The World Bank March 13 announced plans to review its disclosure policy, unveiling an “Approach Paper” that moves in the direction of more transparency.
Significantly, the Bank’s proposal includes a “paradigm shift,” meaning that the “presumption of disclosure”… -
27 January 2009
World Bank Expands Disclosures on Debarments
The World Bank has expanded its policy of disclosing the names of firms and individuals banned from doing business with the Bank.
In a Jan. 11 announcement, the Bank said it will reveal the names of firms and individuals barred… -
22 December 2008
World Bank, Others to Support CSOs with New Funds
A new “Global Partnership Facility” holds the promise of new resources for civil society groups working on governance and anticorruption issues, including freedom of information and media development.
The $65 million four-year initiative being administered by the World Bank is… -
22 December 2008
World Bank Emphasizes Demand Side in Cambodian Project
Shifting strategic emphasis, the World Bank is taking a new approach to its work with Cambodia, one that among other things will mean funneling money to civil society organizations in an effort to stimulate demand for better governance.
The new… -
1 December 2008
International Lenders Permit Georgia to Limit Release
of Information; Groups Protest Lack of Transparency
Transparency was a casualty when international donors gathered recently to consider emergency aid to Georgia.
Civil society groups requested disclosure of the primary document to be discussed at the multi-donor conference — the… -
24 September 2008
Bank Report Relates Media and Development
Broadcasting, Voice, and Accountability: A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law, and Regulation, a World Bank project, is a multi-author, book-length treatment that examines the relationship of the media to governance and development. The report also explores “the enabling environment…
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16 May 2008
Canadian Government Reports on IFI Activity Get Good Grade
The Canadian government’s annual reporting on its activities at international financial institutions is getting better, according to the authors, and to a Canadian civil society group which recently gave the latest report its best grade ever.
The Halifax Initiative said… -
30 January 2008
World Bank Details Disclosure Plan for Fraud, Corruption Reports
The World Bank in late January said it will disclose redacted reports on its fraud and corruption investigations, but not the resulting “action plans.”
The Bank’s disclosure intentions came as part of its endorsement of the findings of an internal… -
18 January 2008
Zoellick Orders Release of World Bank Report on Corruption in India Projects
World Bank President Robert Zoellick ordered the disclosure recently of a World Bank investigation showing “serious incidents” of fraud and corruption in five Bank projects in India.
It was the first time the Bank had disclosed a “Detailed Implementation Review,”… -
12 December 2007
World Bank Grants Access to Database on Loan Conditionality
The World Bank has granted researchers access to an internal database used to track the conditions placed on Bank loans, an action that bodes well for similar transparency requests.
The unusual grant of access helped the European Network on Debt… -
20 September 2007
Volcker Report Urges More Transparency at World Bank
The new “Volcker Report,” critiquing the World Bank’s internal investigations unit, makes several recommendations in favor of greater transparency.
The report was commissioned to review the work of the Bank’s anti-corruption unit, the Department of Institutional Integrity (INT)-headed by Suzanne… -
28 August 2007
World Bank Issues Implementation Plan for Anticorruption Strategy
The World Bank has released its long-awaited “implementation plan” for its governance and anticorruption strategy, a document much shorter and less specific that the guiding Bank “strategy” set in March.
There are some new revelations, however. The implementation plan issued… -
12 April 2007
World Bank Hires Washington Law Firm to Probe Leaks
Almost 10 weeks after announcing plans to investigate leaks of internal documents to Fox News, the World Bank has hired a Washington, D.C., law firm to conduct the probe, according to an announcement made internally April 9.
The firm of… -
9 February 2007
Wolfowitz Launches Probe Into Leak of Board Meeting Minutes
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has launched an internal investigation into who provided Fox News with the "raw" minutes of a World Bank board meeting in January, a document that transparency advocates say should routinely be made public.
The internal… -
13 November 2006
World Bank Anticorruption Strategy May Spark Changes in Disclosure Policy
Adoption of a new anticorruption strategy at the World Bank may lead to changes in the Bank’s disclosure policy. The broad suggestions of such changes must still be converted into specific proposals, however–a process that has only just begun.
If… -
22 September 2006
World Bank Disclosure Policies Change Slowly
Notwithstanding periodic reviews and modest advances, the World Bank’s disclosure policies continue to shield many important documents from disclosure.
Take, for example, the baby step forward in 2005 to release minutes of Board meetings. An advance, no doubt, but the… -
4 August 2006
World Bank Continues Work on Anticorruption Strategy
Liberally sprinkled with references to “transparency,” the latest internal World Bank draft anticorruption strategy appears to follow through on President Paul Wolfowitz’s pledge to increase investment in the areas of media and freedom of information.
While lacking in operational details,… -
17 July 2006
UNDP Seminar Spotlights Complexity of Expanding Right to Know
By Toby McIntosh
Fostering the right to know in developing countries requires multi-faceted, flexible strategies, according to the minutes of a May 2006 seminar sponsored by the United Nations Development Program.
The 31 seminar participants, with practical experience in many… -
13 April 2006
Wolfowitz Stresses Media and FOI as Anticorruption Tools
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz on April 11 put “the media and freedom of information” at the heart of his anti-corruption agenda, raising intriguing, if yet unanswered, questions about the specifics of his plans.
“I will be asking my staff… -
22 March 2006
Freedom of Information Laws Added to the Development Agenda
By Toby McIntosh
Riding a wave of transparency, the idea of encouraging Freedom of Information (FOI) laws as part of the development agenda is gaining currency, but slowly.
With research and case studies increasingly identifying transparency as a key tool… -
20 January 2006
New Steps Toward IFI Transparency: The Use of Domestic Remedies
Mexico established a landmark precedent for the application of national freedom of information laws to the activities of international institutions when its Information Commission on Nov. 16, 2005 ordered the disclosure of documents related to a $108 million World Bank…
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14 September 2005
Documents Spur Public Debate about World Bank Involvement in Awarding Contract for Delhi Water Deal
World Bank and Indian Anti-corruption Group Trade Charges about Bidding Process
Documents released recently under Delhi’s freedom of information law raised a major public controversy over World Bank involvement in contract bidding and fueled a public debate over possible privatization… -
9 August 2005
Pakistan Newspaper Reports on Nonpublic World Bank Document
A newspaper in Pakistan has written about a nonpublic World Bank report evaluating ten years of World Bank activities in Pakistan and shedding light on the process of preparing such major evaluations.
The evaluation report is generally unfavorable to the… -
18 March 2005
World Bank to Release Board Minutes, Make Other Modest Reforms
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors on March 8 approved the release of its minutes, but pulled back substantially from several other disclosure reforms that have been under discussion for months.
By joining the Inter-American Development Bank in releasing… -
21 December 2004
IFC Provides freedominfo.org With Draft Confidentiality Agreement
The World Bank’s private lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, uses confidentiality agreements with its clients to protect business information from disclosure, but treats such information as confidential with or without such agreements, according to an IFC explanation provided to…
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21 December 2004
IFC Reformulates Draft Disclosure Policy, Slightly
The International Finance Corporation, having previously described its proposals for disclosure of information in a "concept paper" has now reformulated its thinking in a "working draft."
The Nov. 24 draft issued by the World… -
21 December 2004
World Bank Pulling Back on Transparency Pilot Project
The World Bank’s board of executive directors is resisting pro-transparency reforms recommended by Bank president James Wolfensohn, cutting back particularly on his proposals to experiment with the release of "draft" materials.
It now appears that the board has decided against… -
30 September 2004
MIGA Intends to Review Disclosure Policies After IFC Finishes
The World Bank’s insurance branch, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, is planning to review its own disclosure policies, probably beginning early next year.
MIGA’s process, expected to take a year or more, will commence once the International Finance Corporation, the… -
30 September 2004
Parliamentarians Seek Larger Role in IFI Decision-Making
Parliamentarians around the world are intensifying their request to be "systematically involved in formulating and monitoring development policies related to IMF and World Bank operations within their own countries."
Those are the key words from a petition being circulated by… -
30 September 2004
Activists Criticize IFC Consultations; IFC Expands Consultations
The International Finance Corporation has increased the number of consultations it will hold on proposed disclosure and safeguard policy revisions after the outreach process came under criticism by activists as inadequate and rushed.
The changes were announced just before the… -
7 September 2004
IFC Issues Broad Guidelines for New Disclosure Policy
The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector lending arm, has issued a "concept paper" on disclosure policy, outlining "principles," "objectives," and "frameworks," but providing few specifics and making few changes in current policies.
For relevant documents click here.… -
6 August 2004
IFC Discusses "Concept Paper" on Disclosure Policy
The International Finance Corporation, having announced plans to review its six-year-old disclosure policy, appears to be starting with a very general statement of concepts likely to disappoint transparency advocates.
A draft of a July 13 “Concept Paper” provided to freedominfo.org… -
6 August 2004
World Bank Backs More Transparency for Oil Revenues
While deciding to continue investing in oil, gas and mining ventures, against the advice of an internal report, the World Bank Board of Directors Aug. 3 said it would insist on greater transparency about the revenues from such projects (http://www.worldbank.org/ogmc/).…
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21 July 2004
Four MDB’s Fail to Protect Whistleblowers, Group Finds
The protection of whistleblowers at four major multilateral development banks is deficient, according to a report by The Government Accounting Project.
Using a 24-point checklist, the Washington-based nongovernmental organization said none of the four institutions merited a passing grade. Out… -
28 May 2004
World Bank Board Poised for Breakthrough on Disclosing Draft Documents
The World Bank Executive Board is poised to consider three significant improvements in its disclosure policy, including the experimental release of certain key staff documents at the same time they are sent to the board.
Such a "pilot project" would… -
10 March 2004
World Bank Staff Backs More Disclosure by Extractive Industries
The World Bank Group should begin requiring that extractive industries receiving Bank loans disclose what payments they make to governments, according to an internal Bank document obtained by freedominfo.org.
The revenue disclosures, however, should not begin for two years for… -
24 February 2004
Parliamentarians Flex Growing Organization, Make Request of Bank
The chairman of an international group of parliamentarians has asked the World Bank to help assure a larger role for legislatures in setting the poverty-fighting strategies within their countries.
The request marks one of the first times the parliamentarians have… -
10 February 2004
IFC Rejects Request to Translate Document into Hindi
The International Finance Corporation recently rejected a request by an Indian group to translate an environmental report about a hydropower project into the local language, Hindi.
The rejection means “the documents are available to the whole world, but sorry, affected… -
10 February 2004
IFC Announces Disclosure Policy Review, Seeks Comments
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector lending wing of the World Bank, said in mid-January that it would accept comments on its current disclosure policy until March 12.
The call for public comments in a period of less than… -
10 February 2004
World Bank Divided on Disclosure of Country Performance Ratings
The World Bank is considering making a small step toward disclosing more information about its “country performance ratings” for the 81 poorest borrowing countries, but a minority of executive directors appears to have successfully resisted full disclosure.
Derived by the… -
10 February 2004
World Bank Board to Meet in March on Disclosure Policy
The World Bank Executive Board will return to the topic of disclosure policy at a meeting in March 2004, to again address whether to disclose more draft documents and board minutes.
The board last deferred action on these topics, asking… -
1 July 2003
World Bank Reviews Disclosure Policy, Postpones Action on U.S. Reform Ideas
The World Bank’s Executive Board has asked its staff to examine several transparency issues raised by the United States and other members, including the possibility of releasing draft documents prior to board discussions and disclosure of board minutes, according to…
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1 July 2003
World Bank Disclosure Report Makes Recommendations for Change
The World Bank has encountered some difficulties implementing its disclosure policy, according to a Bank progress report published June 6, but overall the experience has been "generally good."
The report acknowledged some areas of weakness, particularly in disclosure policy awareness… -
1 May 2003
World Bank Report Urges Disclosure of Oil Revenues
Multinational corporations should be required to disclose more about payments they make to countries for extracting natural resources, according to a new World Bank report
"Breaking the Conflict Trap," a report released May 14, concludes in part that "there is… -
11 April 2003
World Bank Plans to Expand Publicity About Competitive Bidding Opportunities
The World Bank is moving toward a new policy that will at least double the number of contract bidding opportunities publicized internationally, according to bank officials and business sector observers.
The change will substantially increase the visibility of bank-financed contracts… -
31 January 2003
World Bank Denies Access to Documents on Laos Dam Project
The World Bank has rejected requests to disclose several key documents concerning the controversial $1.1 billion Nam Theun 2 hydropower project in Laos.
The documents — the "power purchase agreement" and the "concession agreement" — must stay private, the Bank… -
1 January 2003
Release of Secret Loan Document in Uruguay Fuels Public Debate
The leak of a usually secret document describing the terms of a recent World Bank loan to Uruguay has stoked public anger at conditions attached to the loan, according to activists and journalists there. The release also showed how much…
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22 November 2002
Ugandan Judge Orders Release of Key Document on Bujagali Dam
Ugandan Judge Orders Release of Key Document on Bujagali Dam. Relying on the open government clause of the Ugandan constitution, a top Ugandan judge Nov. 12 ordered the release of a key document about a controversial dam project that the…
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1 November 2002
Environmental Group Analysis PPA
The International Rivers Network (IRN) commissioned the Prayas Energy Group, a policy analysis organization based in Pune, India, to review the PPA.
The analysis found that the capital cost of the project is "excessively high." It also contended that "a… -
17 October 2002
Top World Bank Official Supports More Disclosure of Oil Revenue Payments
Top World Bank Official Supports More Disclosure of Oil Revenue Payments. Oil, gas and mineral companies should fully disclose their payments to governments of developing nations, the head of the World Bank’s private sector lending arm said recently, adding another…
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1 October 2002
Disclosure or Deception? Multilateral Development Banks and Access to Information
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… -
1 September 2002
Analysis of Transparency Issues at the World Bank
Despite changes made in the World Bank’s disclosure policies, more transparency is still possible. Below is a summary of current transparency issues. To read more about the Bank’s changes made in August 2002, see the policy itself made in 2002.…
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26 July 2002
Ugandan High Court to Consider Releasing Key Document on Dam Project
The Ugandan High Court will listen to arguments Aug. 22 to decide whether a contract document for the proposed Bujagali Dam should be released to the public.
Neither the Ugandan government, nor the dam project’s sponsor, AES Nile Power, a… -
1 June 2002
NGO Reveals What Documents Governments Could Release
The Bank Information Center, a Washington-based NGO, is attempting to monitor compliance with the World Bank’s new disclosure policy.
Under the new policy, individual governments now have more latitude to release documents. When such disclosure becomes an option, BIC spreads… -
1 June 2002
Angola Oil Revenues: A Hidden Report
It doesn’t look as though the World Bank will be releasing a $2-million "diagnostic" study by the KPMG accounting firm about where Angolan oil revenues have gone. The Bank shouldered 30 percent of the cost of the report, but it…
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1 June 2002
World Bank Begins Pilot Programs on Disclosure
Some 20 countries are about to embark on pilot programs with the World Bank in which they will disclose and disseminate more information than they have in the past – that is, more than what Bank policy currently requires.
The…
ABOUT IFTI WATCH
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
By Institution