Poland is on course to graduate from the World Bank. That a rich, high-income economy still has a programme is no failure, but the point. Andrzej Domański welcomed a new six-year plan on June 16, when the World Bank’s board met to discuss its latest partnership framework for Poland. The country’s finance minister said the […]
Graduating with honours was originally published on Emerging Europe.
The Illusion of a “Small Country” Seen from Tokyo Bay
On a June morning, white tanks lined an LNG receiving terminal in Tokyo Bay, and a tanker from the open sea approached the quay. Its cargo was not extracted inside Japan. It was fuel drawn in by contracts and credit from the Middle East, Australia, the United States, and Southeast Asia. The lights of the Tokyo metropolitan area, factory…
東京湾から見える「小国」という錯覚
6月の朝、東京湾のLNG受入基地に白いタンクが並び、外洋からのタンカーが岸壁に近づいた。積み荷は日本国内で産出されたものではない。中東、オーストラリア、アメリカ、東南アジアから、契約と信用で引き込んだ燃料である。首都圏の灯り、工場炉、家庭の給湯器は、こうした船の到着を前提に動いている。
問うべきは、なじんだ自己卑下ではない。日本とは実際にどのような国として運転されているのかである。日本人は自国を資源が乏しい、小さな島国、人口減少国、平和国家、失われた30年の国と表現しがちだ。控えめさとしては機能するが、地理、経済、マーケット、外交を読む尺度として使えば危うい。
日本は万能の大国ではない。人口減少、低成長、エネルギー依存、財政制約に直面している。だがそれは小国の問題ではない。より正確には、日本は制約下の大国である。小さいから弱いのではない。縮小しなが…
Punjab’s flagship housing initiative, “Apni Chhat Apna Ghar,” has attracted growing international attention, with the World Bank and several countries expressing interest in the programme as a model for affordable housing development. Read More: ‘Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar’ scheme tops world rankings, says Punjab CM According to officials, government institutions and agencies from Canada, Saudi […]
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb and World Bank (WB) delegation, led by Vice President for Human Development, Ms. Mamta Murthi here on Wednesday discussed strengthening cooperation in human capital development, focusing on skills enhancement, improved health outcomes, education, social protection and technology-driven public service delivery. The delegation…
Hormuz, Marcos Jr., the United States, China and the Energy Fragility of the Asian Protectorate “A country may have its own flag and still discover that its fuel depends on other people’s wars.” The Philippines is an archipelago of more…
Mauricio Herrera Kahn
The demographic case is equally striking. More than 60% of Africans are under 25. By 2050, one in three people aged 15 to 24 anywhere on Earth will be African. A continent this young is not a problem to be managed. It is a generation to be partnered with
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has produced a guide to support the analysis of four aspects of national food systems, including food safety.
The Scan Guide covers food safety, food fortification, food loss and waste, and livestock production (animal welfare and use of antibiotics). It provides a list of assessment
New research links rural solar adoption to mobile money use, while raising concerns about inequality
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)— Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez held a meeting with a high-level delegation from
A peer-reviewed study finds wealth inequality is locking the poorest households out of solar electrification
Former World Bank President David Malpass has outlined how China must stop its greedy stockpiling of food and fertilizer to ease the supply crisis caused by the war in Iran, writes the BBC. Malpass was undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs during US President Donald Trump’s first presidency. Speaking ahead of Trump’s upcoming visit […]
The post Former World Bank President:…
The World Bank has approved a $1 billion financing operation supporting Egypt’s ongoing economic reform program, with a focus on private sector-led job creation, fiscal resilience, and green transition policies. According to official statements, the financing includes a $200 million credit guarantee backed by the United Kingdom as part of the “Building Resilience, Opportunities, and […]
The post…
CAIRO — Egypt is accelerating efforts to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and deepen private sector participation, as the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (Egypt) held high-level discussions with the World Bank Group on the country’s investment strategy and medium-term economic outlook. According to an official ministry statement, Minister Ahmed Rostom met with World […]
Morocco could expand its economy by up to 20% by 2035 if it accelerates structural reforms to boost competition, private investment, and labour market inclusion, according to recent reports by the World Bank cited by Asharq Business. The findings, presented in Rabat, suggest that integrating women and youth into the formal economy and strengthening private […]
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has released two reports on food safety and called for a broader and more long-term view of investments.
The first report evaluates the return on investment (ROI) of food safety management systems (FSMS) and the second shares lessons from IFC-supported clients.
The same system that encouraged the reduction of births is now trying to manage the consequences.
The World Bank has priced a $120m spekboom restoration bond in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, linking investor returns to ecosystem recovery
As wealthy nations scramble to secure stocks of oil, the result is higher prices for all and shortages in vulnerable countries.
High-level discussion among DFIs and city leaders lays the groundwork for new solutions to increase investment in resilient, low-carbon urban infrastructure Mayors and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) met during the World Bank Spring Meetings for the high-level roundtable “Scaling Sustainable…
Pressenza New York
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The ongoing war in Iran is casting a long shadow over the climate finance commitments countries agreed to in 2024, experts warned, as surging oil prices and rising defense budgets put further pressure on the limited pot of money developing nations are counting on to stave off worsening impacts from a warming planet. The […]
Rising witchcraft accusations in Malawi are fuelling deadly attacks on elderly people, exposing gaps in justice, social protection and governance
For many African public intellectuals such as Steve Biko, Leopold Senghor, Kenneth Kaunda, Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah, political independence represented more than the transfer of formal authority from colonial administrations to newly sovereign states
Europe and Central Asia’s governments are spending more than ever on steering their economies. They are mostly pointing in the wrong direction. The World Bank rarely minces its words. Its spring economic update for Europe and Central Asia (ECA), published on April 8, delivered a bleak macroeconomic picture alongside a pointed verdict on industrial policy […]
Subsidising the past was originally…
Earlier this year, 1.5 million Kenyan households received a text message reading: “Samahani KOKO customer. We regret to inform you that KOKO is closing operations today.” Within hours, KOKO Networks, one of Africa’s most celebrated clean-energy startups, laid off 700 staff, shut 3,000 fuel stations, and took the continent’s largest bioethanol ... [continued]
The post What KOKO’s Collapse Reveals…
A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has revealed that damage and loss assessment reports were not prepared for 82 sub-projects under the World Bank-funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project before their commencement. The CAG highlighted several deficiencies in project implementation, including execution in flood-prone areas and irregular expenditure.
The World Bank also used fast-disbursing policy development lending facilities to speed hundreds of billions of dollars in relief to developing countries affected by the pandemic.
Cuban health care was once the pride of the island. Now the U.S. oil blockade is upending even basic medical care.
This is a familiar pattern. International financial institutions socialise risk and privatise profit, while invoking development rhetoric to justify fossil fuel expansion in the Global South. Similar projects would be politically untenable in the Global North
The public confrontation between senior officials, the establishment of inquiries and the intense public debate surrounding the allegations all indicate that accountability mechanisms, although imperfect, are still functioning