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On Now, said Paulson Plan is a joke. Says that World Banks should instead go for either Zero or near Zero Interest Rates. Time for World Banks to Operate togeather, no need for bailout. Consensus, Buying assets of banks that are worth 0-10% of their face value for 65% of the face value is a bad deal for American Tax Payers. There wasn't that much push-back to him, just that the rest of the team kept saying Paulson this, Paulson that. The Brit Responded, do you really trust this guy? He didn't see this coming, why should we believe what...

The $700bn (€475bn) rescue package for US banks proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson does nothing to address the root causes of the financial crisis, and could end up costing the global economy dearly in the long run, according to a former World Bank economist who has overseen similar rescues in emerging markets. Professor Sweder van Wijnbergen, who spent 12 years at the World Bank and was most recently chief economist for central and eastern Europe, said that in his experience the cost of such rescue packages was not necessarily related to the size of the initial problem - in...

AMSTERDAM: World Bank president Robert Zoellick said on Saturday that he expected food prices to remain above 2004 levels until at least 2012 and energy prices would also remain high and volatile. He repeated that with food and fuel prices in a "danger zone" there was a need for $10 billion to provide food and cash handouts for the world's poorest. Soaring oil and food prices have fuelled inflation across the globe at the same time as economies slow, posing a sharp dilemma for policymakers. Earlier this week, leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations in Japan agreed on...

LONDON, June 9 - The World Bank on Monday priced a $25 million bond linked to United Nations-approved carbon emission offset credits, the market's first such bond, lead manager Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe said. Payments on the bond are linked to Certified Emissions Reduction credits , which are issued under the Clean Development Mechanism, a trading scheme that allows rich nations to invest in clean energy projects in developing countries. Trade in CERs, which holders can either sell for profit or use to meet emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol, more than doubled to $13 billion last year, according to...

SINGAPORE, May 20 (Reuters) - The World Bank is not in a position to provide any financial aid to cyclone-stricken Myanmar because the country has not been servicing its World Bank debt since 1998, a bank official said on Tuesday. "The World Bank is not in a position to assist Myanmar at this time," World Bank Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub told reporters, adding that it was the bank's policy not to provide funds to countries that have fallen behind on debt repayments.

World Bank president calls for action as food prices cause rioting Jenny Booth The president of the World Bank has called for immediate action to deal with rapidly rising food prices that have caused hunger and deadly violence and threatened the economic stability of the world's poorest countries. A doubling of food prices over the last two years was potentially pushing 100 million people deeper into long-term poverty, said Robert Zoellick. “We have to put our money where our mouth is now, so that we can put food into hungry mouths. It is as stark as that,” Mr Zoellick said...

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Developing countries and environmental groups accused the World Bank on Friday of trying to seize control of the billions of dollars of aid that will be used to tackle climate change in the next four decades. "The World Bank's foray into climate change has gone down like a lead balloon," Friends of the Earth campaigner Tom Picken said at the end of a major climate change conference in the Thai capital. "Many countries and civil society have expressed outrage at the World Bank's attempted hijacking of real efforts to fund climate change efforts," he said. Before they...

p>The following letter was cosigned and sent by 300 employees of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to Pope Benedict XVI, in anticipation of his upcoming trip.I post it in its entirety, with a hat tip to our friend, Grazia Mangano, STL, who alerted me to it.* * * LETTER TO HIS HOLINESSPOPE BENEDICT XVIWASHINGTON, DC, MARCH 28, 2008Your Holiness: Respecting human life and the family based on marriage as a condition for integral human development We work, or are spouses of people working, at the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the Inter-American...

The German government's purchase of data stolen from a Liechtenstein bank has reinvigorated longstanding debates about privacy, law enforcement and international relations. Much of the fallout has followed predictable patterns. Some argue that Germany's richest citizens should be brought to justice for failing to comply with the tax laws, while others point out that it is unseemly for a nation to spy on a peaceful neighbor. The conflict between Germany and Liechtenstein also has triggered a broader debate about tax competition and the role of so-called tax havens. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is trying to use...

In a statement (2007-06-20) Marzeporgohar reported on World Bank doing business with Iran. In Feb 2008 Fox News publish a instantly recognizable report on the subject. http://marzeporgohar.org/index.php?l=1&cat=21&scat=114&artid=1315

World Bank Using U.S. Funds To Boost Iranian Industry, Gas Sectors February 01, 2008 James Rosen WASHINGTON — The World Bank is using millions of dollars in American taxpayer funds to help Iran build up its industrial and natural gas sectors, FOX News has learned. This comes at a time when the United States and the United Nations are actively working to discourage the international community from conducting commercial transactions with Iran and its energy sector, in particular. The World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) pledges money to secure foreign investments in developing countries, and the U.S. government is...

The World Bank is poised to name a scholar from China as its chief economist, a move by bank President Robert Zoellick to address criticism that the institution needs more senior management from developing nations and should be better attuned to emerging markets... China and Vietnam, he noted, have achieved long periods of fast economic growth while flouting some conventional free-market policies. Many countries in Eastern Europe and Latin America, by contrast, have been quicker to liberalize but have worse records of sustaining growth and reducing poverty.

The Prime Minister has called for a radical reform of international institutions ranging from the United Nations to the World Bank. In a speech to business leaders in the Indian capital New Delhi, Mr Brown said the UN Security Council should be expanded to include places for nations such as India, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should have a new "early warning" role to head off crises such as Northern Rock. He also said the World Bank should focus more on increasing clean energy and the environment. He said: "To succeed now, the post-war rules of the game and...

WASHINGTON - The World Bank said it would not open its buildings in Washington on Friday because of a bomb threat. "World Bank Group Corporate Security is investigating a bomb threat received by telephone. The Bank is working with law enforcement officials to determine the validity of the threat," according to a short post on the World Bank Web site. "As a precautionary measure, Bank Group management has decided to close all World Bank Group leased and owned buildings in Washington on Friday, Jan. 18. A call to the Bank was transferred to a security office, where a man who...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank said on Thursday its security was investigating a bomb threat made by telephone and asked its staff at its Washington headquarters to stay home on Friday. "The bank is working with law enforcement officials to determine the validity of the threat," the bank said in a statement. "As a precautionary measure, Bank group management has decided to close all World Bank group leased and owned buildings in Washington on Friday," it added. -snip-

The World Bank on Wednesday announced the resignation of Suzanne Rich Folsom as director of its anticorruption unit, or INT. "She was not forced out, she was not asked to leave," said external relations chief Marwan Muasher. That's one way of putting it. Ms. Folsom is, in fact, leaving the bank of her own accord for a private-sector job, having recently completed a devastating report on $569 million worth of corrupted bank projects in India. But this is a story of a resignation by a thousand cuts. Along with her top deputies, Glenn Ware and Allison Brigati, Ms. Folsom departs...

A British al-Qa'eda fanatic who planned to cause "indiscriminate carnage, bloodshed and butchery" on both sides of the Atlantic has been jailed for life. Dhiren Barot, from London, plotted explosions Muslim convert Dhiren Barot was told by a judge at Woolwich Crown Court this afternoon that he must serve at least 40 years before being considered for release. Mr Justice Butterfield told Barot: "This was no noble cause. Your plans were to bring indiscriminate carnage, bloodshed and butchery first in Washington, New York and Newark, and thereafter the UK on a colossal and unprecedented scale." He added: "Your intention was...

World Bank slams corruption in aided Indian healthcare projects NEW DELHI (AFP) — The World Bank has exposed serious fraud in Indian healthcare programmes it has funded and said New Delhi had agreed to help stamp out corruption, officials said Saturday. Serious lapses in auditing, malpractice and corruption were found in five healthcare programmes launched between 1997 and 2003, it said, adding that the projects were jointly funded by donors, India and the World Bank. A "detailed implementation review launched by the World Bank and the Indian government in 2006 found serious incidents of fraud and corruption in the five...

With startup capital expected at up to $7 billion, backers say the Banco del Sur, or Bank of the South, will offer Latin American countries loans with fewer strings attached than those proffered by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund or the Inter-American Development Bank."The Bank of the South is a strategy ... aimed at freeing us from the chains of dependence and underdevelopment," Chavez said upon arriving Sunday in the Argentine capital for the signing ceremony.The bank is one of several far-reaching proposals under Chavez's ambitious call to unite a bloc of Latin American countries in a "confederation...

Critics have long believed environmentalists were planning global domination. The problem with making a credible case against such an ambitious plan was simple: no environmental leader had published one. Yet conflicts over global warming, world trade, multinational corporations, population control, sustainable futures, and transnational government left little doubt that environmentalists in fact shared the unspoken aim of wielding supreme power over a green future. But there was no proof. For years, critics, lacking hard evidence, were reduced to piecing together a jigsaw puzzle of suspicious environmentalist actions - funding from huge charitable trusts, ties to the broader "progressive" community, and...

Don't ever say the Bush administration doesn't take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank—amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend—he's in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious State Department panel, according to two department sources who declined to be identified discussing personnel matters. The 18-member panel, which...

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the East Asia crisis, which began in Thailand on July 2, 1997, and spread to Indonesia in October and to Korea in December. Eventually, it became a global financial crisis, embroiling Russia and Latin American countries, such as Brazil, and unleashing forces that played out over the ensuing years: Argentina in 2001 may be counted as among its victims. There were many other innocent victims, including countries that had not even engaged in the international capital flows that were at the root of the crisis. Indeed, Laos was among the worst-affected countries. Though...

Dominating the news last week was the riveting question of whether or not O.J. used a gun when he broke into a Las Vegas hotel room to reclaim "his stuff." Experts explained, pundits proclaimed and a good time was had by all. Short shrift was given to the continuing good news slowly making its way out of Iraq. Roadside bomb attacks receded to a three-year low and weapons cache finds doubled (since 2006). Al-Maliki proclaimed Baghdad a liveable city, with thousands of former refugees returning. Al-Qaeda has pretty much admitted defeat - Sunnis and Shias have joined forces to hunt...

Despite protestations from an influential congressman, the World Bank is going ahead with plans to loan Iran nearly $900 million – with the largest chunk of money coming from the U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, earlier this year asked the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick – a former member of the Bush administration – to suspend the loans. Zoellick declined, according to the New York Sun. Kirk, a member of the subcommittee that approves America’s share of the World Bank’s funds, warns that the loans totaling about $870 million will undercut U.S. and Western efforts to...

Global economic leaders warned of inflation risks in advanced countries on the eve of the first World Bank meetings since Robert Zoellick took charge of an institution shaken by internal divisions and scandal. The International Monetary Fund's policy-setting committee on Saturday noted rising food and oil prices and other indications of inflation in urging finance ministers and central bankers to stay focused on achieving price stability as well as on smoothing global financial market turbulence. With meetings of the IMF and the Group of 7 industrialized countries over, attention turned to Sunday's meeting of the IMF's sister organization, the World...

If the organizers of this weekend's annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings want to help poor, developing countries, they should focus their attention on the government of a prosperous country. Nothing closes the door faster to funds reaching developing nations than lenders and investors discovering their loans can be blown off — even when a country can easily afford to repay them. That is the lesson now being disseminated faster than the leaflets at an anti-globalization rally by Argentina. The country's president, Nestor Kirchner, had long refused to repay more than $6 billion owed to numerous other governments...

WASHINGTON -- Several stores in Georgetown boarded up their windows Friday in anticipation of possible vandalism by protesters in town for the World Bank and IMF meetings. A few dozen protesters gathered at Washington Circle, where they planned to begin a march through Georgetown to send a message to what they call "a seat of excessive wealth and privilege."...

Al Gore’s campaign against global warming is shifting into high gear. Reporters and commentators follow his every move and bombard the public with notice of his activities and opinions. But while the mainstream media promote his ideas about the state of planet Earth, they are mostly silent about the dramatic impact his economic proposals would have on America. And journalists routinely ignore evidence that he may personally benefit from his programs. Would the romance fizzle if Gore’s followers realized how much their man stands to gain? Earlier this year Gore experienced a notable public relations debacle. The Tennessee Center for...

Robert Zoellick outlined a vision for the World Bank yesterday, at a speech marking his 100th day as president. His theme: "inclusive and sustainable globalization." Whatever that means. We long ago became accustomed to the toothless catchphrases by which the bank shovels money (now more than $30 billion a year) out the door, and it remains to be seen if Mr. Zoellick's agenda will amount to more than a high gloss on the status quo. To his credit, the former U.S. Trade Rep is emphasizing the importance of free trade to economic development, still a controversial point at an institution...

September 25, 2007 -- McLean, VA - Senator Fred Thompson today released the following statement regarding World Bank funding in Iran: "The UN has proven unable to take serious action to stop Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Indeed, Iran continues to violate its treaty obligations and thumb its nose at the world body. Yet today, the UN gave the leader of the world's premier state sponsor of terror a platform to establish his credibility and espouse additional vitriol. All of this despite the fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of another UN member state--Israel--and threatens the...

Democracy: George Soros is known for funding groups such as MoveOn.org that seek to manipulate public opinion. So why is the billionaire's backing of what he believes in problematic? In a word: transparency. How many people, for instance, know that James Hansen, a man billed as a lonely "NASA whistleblower" standing up to the mighty U.S. government, was really funded by Soros' Open Society Institute , which gave him "legal and media advice"? That's right, Hansen was packaged for the media by Soros' flagship "philanthropy," by as much as $720,000, most likely under the OSI's "politicization of science" program.

According to the World Bank Poland is a rich country 14.09.2007 10:22 Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) - Instead of money we will be given a lot of good advice The relations between Poland and the Word Bank (WB) will change. There will be no more money for roads, but instead the bank will advise where to find them. Poland is no longer a poor country whose government has no funds for investments. "As the EU member Poland has an access to significant financial funds, and it is the Union and its institutions that shal become Poland's key partners. Therefore our ralations...

Having knocked off Paul Wolfowitz as president, the forces of the status quo at the World Bank now have another target in their destructive sights: The corruption fighters at the bank's Department of Institutional Integrity. New President Robert Zoellick will soon have decisions to make. As we reported at the time, the fight over Mr. Wolfowitz had little to do with his girlfriend and everything to do with his anti-corruption efforts. That truth is now coming into sharper relief, as a showdown looms over a series of reports about, and by, the bank's anti-corruption unit. Senior bank officials are especially...

Both the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency have found Iran in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The IAEA reports that Iran ignored the Security Council's February deadline to stop enriching uranium and has even expanded its nuclear program. As Iran's Atomic Energy Organization moves toward its announced goal of operating 50,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges in Natanz, the World Bank is funding nine government projects in Iran totaling $1.35 billion -- one of which operates in Isfahan, where Iran's nuclear program is headquartered. While the World Bank is part of the U.N. family,...

The World Bank faces “an uphill task” persuading donor countries to meet its fundraising target of $39bn for the International Development Association, the bank’s concessionary lending arm that provides funds to the world’s poorest countries, Robert Zoellick, president, said on Thursday. In a briefing in Tokyo, Mr Zoellick said factors including budget constraints, taxpayer resistance and a weak US dollar and Japanese yen made the current three-year round, which closes in December, very difficult. “Part of my job is to explain why IDA is important. What tends to sell aid is if you can show it has a direct connection...

(IsraelNN.com) The World Bank is accusing Jerusalem of creating the conditions for an “irreversible” economic collapse in Hamas-controlled Gaza, blaming Israel for closures of the border crossings with the region. “The pillars of Gaza’s economy have weakened over the years. Now, with a sustained closure on this current scale, they would be at risk of virtually irreversible collapse,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, the acting director for the World Bank in the Palestinian Authority territories. Hadad-Zervos told participants at a closed-door meeting of private-sector organizations and aid groups that “A solution must be reached very soon, if not immediately…Otherwise, Gaza’s dependence on...

China pressured World Bank to cut deadly pollution figures: report by Guy Newey Tue Jul 3, 5:43 AM ET Research showing that 750,000 people die prematurely in China each year from pollution was cut from a World Bank report following pressure from Beijing, the Financial Times said Tuesday. Beijing successfully lobbied for the removal of a third of the report, entitled the "Cost of Pollution in China," arguing the contents could lead to social unrest, the London-based newspaper said. China's State Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and health ministry asked the World Bank to remove the figures from a draft of...

The failed ideologies of the last century have come to an end. But a new one has risen to take their place. It is the ideology of Development—and it promises a solution to all the world’s ills. But like Communism, Fascism, and the others before it, Developmentalism is a dangerous and deadly failure. A dark ideological specter is haunting the world. It is almost as deadly as the tired ideologies of the last century — communism, fascism, and socialism — that failed so miserably. It feeds some of the most dangerous trends of our time, including religious fundamentalism. It is...

WASHINGTON - Robert Zoellick, President Bush's former trade chief and No. 2 diplomat, appeared certain to win approval as the World Bank's next president. The World Bank's 24-member board scheduled a closed-door meeting Monday to take up Zoellick's nomination, which was put forward by Bush. No other countries nominated candidates. Zoellick would succeed Paul Wolfowitz, who will step down on June 30, ending a stormy two-year tenure at the poverty-fighting institution. Wolfowitz courted controversy from the start because of his role in the Iraq war when he was deputy defense secretary. However, it was his role in arranging a hefty...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A statement issued by Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency MIGA- a member of the World Bank group- states a $5 million guarantee to Cesur Packaging Corporation. Cesur Packaging of Turkey owns 48 percent of the company, while investors of dual Turkish and Iranian nationality own the remaining shares. The guarantee protects against the risk of war and civil disturbance, for a period up to 10 years. Islamic Republic economical procedures are very similar to Mafia organizations. Individuals doing business at high level have clear connections to the Islamic Regime officials and dues must be paid accordingly. Entrepreneurship in terms of...

Leadership: For the musty World Bank, president designee Robert Zoellick already seems like fresh air. He's not only standing up for the bank's real purpose — economic development — he's even challenging tyrants. Last Sunday, while visiting Mexico City, Zoellick threw a first punch at, of all people, Venezuela's bullying dictator, Hugo Chavez. Chavez has tried to cow the World Bank into taking a softer stance on his dictatorship after the bank's leadership crisis last spring. Although Venezuela paid off its debts to the bank in April, Chavez denounced the bank as "imperialist" and threatened to drop his country's membership....

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Robert Zoellick, almost certain to be the next head of the World Bank, on Saturday took aim at Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, warning that his oil-fueled socialist revolution was headed for trouble. "It's a country where economic problems are mounting, and as we're seeing also on the political and press side it's not moving in a healthy direction," Zoellick told reporters during a visit to Mexico.

Some good may yet come from the successful putsch by the staff of the World Bank against Paul Wolfowitz. A great deal of good, in fact. Not that we should cheer the ability of an overpaid staff, besotted with anti-war fervour, to zap its president, first by urging him to resolve personally the conflict created by his girlfriend’s employment at the bank, and then by attacking him for doing just that. But this cloud has more than one silver lining. The first is that it finally made President Bush realise that he has been too attentive to those who advise...

Amid the hoopla surrounding the resignation of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, few noticed another battle going on within the World Bank on the question of population. According to press reports Bank Managing Director and former Finance Minister for El Salvador, Juan Jose Daboub, came under fire for a memo he sent allegedly directing that reproductive health measures be removed from a World Bank package to Madagascar. He was accused of imposing his religious beliefs on long standing policies of the bank involving reproductive health and family planning. European delegates from Belgium, Norway, Germany, and France along with various non-governmental...

French Foreign Minister Kouchner welcomes Zoellick for World Bank POTSDAM, Germany- French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Wednesday welcomed the US choice of former diplomat and trade chief Robert Zoellick to head the World Bank after the "dark chapter" with outgoing chief Paul Wolfowitz. "Mr Zoellick is certainly the right man for the job," Kouchner told reporters ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Eight most industrialised countries in the eastern German city of Potsdam. He said Zoellick would have to win back the trust of the international community after the favoritism scandal that forced Wolfowitz...

Today President Bush nominated former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick as the new president of the World Bank, replacing Paul Wolfowitz. (Transcript) Later, in the White House Rose Garden, the president announced an emergency plan for fighting AIDS in Africa. (Transcript) First Lady Laura Bush spoke to an assembly at The Island School in New York City on behalf of her foundation for America's libraries. And President Bush arrived this afternoon in New Jersey to speak at a RNC fundraiser. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen Robert Zoellick, a one-time U.S. trade representative and former No. 2 official at the State Department, to lead the World Bank, a senior administration official said Tuesday. Bush will announce his decision on Wednesday. This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration's choice to run the World Bank could be revealed as soon as this week, the White House said Tuesday. The United States for several weeks has been scouting candidates to replace Paul Wolfowitz, who will leave the...

The unofficial, unconfirmed list of Paul D. Wolfowitz successors got a little more interesting, with The Wall Street Journal putting a shiny star next to the name of Bill Frist, the former Senate majority leader. Mr. Frist, who was mentioned as a candidate in The New York Times last week, is receiving “especially close scrutiny” from the White House, The Journal reported today. Scrutinizing the scrutinizers are World Bank shareholders seeking a more transparent selection process, including representatives from Brazil, South Korea, China and Pakistan, Reuters reported. Mr. Wolfowitz’s nomination was a surprise to several shareholders, and his swift hiring...

WASHINGTON -- The White House is starting to draw up a list of potential nominees to lead the World Bank, and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a heart surgeon who has traveled widely in Africa, is getting especially close scrutiny for the job. Also receiving long looks are Treasury Deputy Secretary Robert Kimmitt and Robert Zoellick, the former U.S. trade representative now working at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to individuals familiar with White House deliberations.

PAUL Wolfowitz has really had a bad couple of weeks. He not only lost his job, he lost his girlfriend, too. Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, was pushed out as president of the World Bank over a controversial pay and promotion package he arranged for his brunette girlfriend, Shaha Ali Riza. Sources say Riza, a brilliant feminist with a promising diplomatic career, was upset by all the publicity and the implication that she was getting ahead with the help of a powerful man. "She was furious about the embarrassment," said one source. Last week, Wolfowitz bowed...