IFTI Watch
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21 September 2009
IMF Has No Plans to Post Draft Revision to Disclosure Policy
The International Monetary Fund board will discuss possible changes to the IMF disclosure policy later this fall, but still has no plans to disclose any proposed changes. Staff review of the IMF Transparency Policy is underway following a consultation this spring, and the staff may or may not make reform proposals, according to Silvia Zucchini, […]
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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 July 23, 2009, report analyzes its experience with the environmental, social, and disclosure policies adopted […]
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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 of the House Financial Services Committee at which academics and other witnesses advocated for greater […]
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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 to the decision-making board. The demand for such simultaneous disclosure has been a longstanding one […]
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19 June 2009
Closely Guarded EIB Framework Agreements Appear Largely Technical
The European Investment Bank is proposing to disclose Framework Agreements only with the permission of the country partner, but the agreements appear to be largely technical and legal documents, judging from a very old one supplied by the Bank and a more recent one obtained by Freedominfo.org. The Bank’s reluctance to disclose the Framework Agreements […]
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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 policy after the Bank completes a rewrite of its disclosure policy, an effort now under […]
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12 June 2009
EIB Proposes Limit on Disclosure of Framework Agreements, Invites Public Comment on Transparency Policies
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is proposing to let countries decide whether to disclose the “Framework Agreement” documents that guide EIB lending to individual countries. Tajikistan is one such country getting EIB help. On February 11, 2009, the EIB announced that the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, and EIP President Philippe Maystadt […]
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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 plans to wait until the Bank’s policy is approved before taking parallel action, an IEG […]
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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 refer to specific interests that might be harmed. Instead, they describe either a category of […]
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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 points of discussion. They condense, without names, the comments made by the executive directors. The […]
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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 at the World Bank, indicated some areas of potential flexibility. He welcomed suggestions that the […]
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30 April 2009
IMF Holds Consultation on Transparency Policy
Article IV Reports Source of Tension Ana Quiros from Nicaragua had a very direct message for the International Monetary Fund. We would like to see what you are discussing with Nicaragua, and not just in a press note, said Quiros, who works for the Information Center & Advisory Services in Health (Centro de Informacion y […]
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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 the Bank’s rejection of repeated requests by Yemeni civil society groups to translate a key […]
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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 stakeholders were wrongly excluded and the overwhelming majority of our people were not consulted during […]
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10 April 2009
Signs and Smokesignals
Asked by e-mail about the fund, Alejandra Videos, a Senior Communications Officer with the World Bank replied, We dont have anything new to report on the Facility. Well let you know if anything comes up. Another Bank official explained that no disclosure about the funds expenditures is necessary under Bank rules because it is bank-executed […]
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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 is planned for April 13 in Russia, followed by April 14 sessions in Indonesia and […]
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31 March 2009
IMF Begins Delayed Review of Transparency Policy
The International Monetary Fund on March 25 requested public comment on its transparency policy. The IMF asked for comments by April 30 and offered questionnaires for three different types of potential respondents: "civil society organizations," "financial market participants," and "think tanks, academics and other stakeholders." Questionnaires Questionnaire for Civil Society Organizations Questionnaire for Financial Markets […]
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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 a precursor to further international pressure on this front, long considered highly sensitive. International donors […]
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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 got more and more confused. When I first wrote pic@worldbank.org I asked simply if they […]
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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 Bank’s disclosure policy — but is very frustrating to Mushtaq Gaadi, who works with an […]