World Bank

More from the Series

Blog Post
Unsolicited Bids in Power Projects: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks
July 07, 2020
Providing reliable electricity is complex and expensive: large power plants can be billion-dollar investments. As a result, a growing number of cash-strapped developing countries are signing power purchase agreements with electricity providers to shift investment costs to the private sector.
Blog Post
Welcome Transparency on Debt from the World Bank
June 23, 2020
The World Bank has just released country-by-country data on the debt owed to individual creditors by the 73 countries eligible to participate in the G20-sponsored debt service suspension initiative.
Blog Post
IFC Moves Towards Competitive Capped and Transparent Subsidy Use
April 08, 2020
As part of the negotiations between the IFC and the US government over a (now agreed) capital increase for the IFC, World Bank Group president David Malpass issued a letter to US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin promising changes in the way IFC does business.
Blog Post
Three Percent is a Big Difference
March 30, 2020
There is a little-noticed but important difference between the World Bank’s original goal for poverty reduction and the first of the subsequent UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG1).  The difference is that the Bank’s goal was to reach a 3 percent poverty rate by 2030, while the SDG1 is to “e...
WORKING PAPERS
SDG1: The Last Three Percent
March 30, 2020
There is a little-noticed but important difference between the World Bank’s original goal for poverty reduction and the subsequent UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). While both target the “$1.90 a day” poverty rate, the Bank’s goal was a 3% rate by 2030, while the SDG is to “eradicate” poverty b...
Blog Post
Development Finance Institutions Should Be Instruments of Public Policy, Not Private Gain
March 18, 2020
The World Bank Group has some very clear (and very good) guidelines about what makes for a successful public-private partnership where governments contract service provision like energy supply or education from private firms. Sadly, the bank has been ignoring that rule recently. And that is a sign o...