World Bank

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2008 - The World Bank released the following statement today on the signing of the agreement in Kenya:    » read more »

GENEVA, January 31, 2008—Liberalization of services trade could produce large benefits for developed and developing countries alike, says the Handbook of International Trade in Services[1], produced by the World Bank.

The Handbook highlights the potential gains from the reform of trade in communications, finance, transport and business services, estimated to be more than five times larger than those from a comparable liberalization of trade in goods.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, January 24, 2008 –Robert B. Zoellick will begin this week his first major visit to Africa as President of the World Bank Group. He will travel to Mauritania, Liberia, Ethiopia, and Mozambique. Mr. Zoellick visited South Africa in November of last year.    » read more »

World Bank Introduces New Measures to Strengthen Governance and Anti-Corruption

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 23, 2008 - The World Bank Group will implement the recommendations of the Volcker Report to strengthen its Department of Institutional Integrity (INT), which investigates fraud and corruption. The recommendations include creation of an independent advisory board composed of international anticorruption experts to protect the independence and strengthen the accountability of INT.    » read more »

Washington, D.C. (Jan. 11, 2008) – The World Bank and Conservation International (CI) today signed an agreement for $20 million in new funds, provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), to protect some of the world’s most unique and threatened areas, including island ecosystems and temperate forests.

These biodiversity hotspots are home to more than half of all terrestrial plants and animals, as well as more than 1.8 billion people who are highly dependent on healthy lands for their livelihoods and well-being.    » read more »

NEW DELHI , January 11, 2008 - The Government of India and the World Bank Group have joined forces to fight fraud and corruption and systemic deficiencies in India ’s health sector, announcing immediate steps to investigate indicators of wrongdoing and implement further safeguards. The Government of India has announced its intention to reexamine ongoing and future projects to ensure that they incorporate the lessons from a Detailed Implementation Review (DIR).    » read more »

WASHINGTON, January 10, 2008 — The World Bank today approved IDA financing totaling US$247 million to help Bangladesh recover from the dual shocks of the August flooding and November cyclone, which caused significant loss of life and enormous social, human, and economic costs. Of this total, US$170 million takes the form of additional credits, and US$52 million consists of reallocation of funds within ongoing projects toward flood restoration. Another US$25 million is being made available for cyclone recovery through existing projects.    » read more »

LONDON, January 9, 2008 – Resilience in developing economies is cushioning the current slowdown in the United States, with real GDP growth for developing countries expected to ease to 7.1 percent in 2008, while high-income countries are predicted to grow by a modest 2.2 percent, says the World Bank.

Global Economic Prospects 2008 (GEP 2008) notes that world growth slowed modestly in 2007 to 3.6 percent compared with 3.9 percent in 2006, a downturn due largely to weaker growth in high-income countries. In 2008 global growth is expected to be 3.3 percent.    » read more »

New Report Sees Huge Demand for Investment over Next Decade

December 18, 2007 -- WASHINGTON -- A new report from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, says spending on health in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to double over the next 10 years. Investments of $25 billion to $30 billion will be needed to meet the demand, with the private sector playing a key role.    » read more »

Integrity Report Highlights Increased Investigations, New Tools, Better Donor Coordination

WASHINGTON, December 18, 2007 — The World Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity (INT) made significant contributions to the global fight against corruption in Fiscal Year 2007, with a 25 percent increase in closed investigations from the previous fiscal year, the launch of a Voluntary Disclosure Program to deter private-sector corruption, and agreement on a coordinated approach to rooting out corruption among the International Financial Institutions, says a new report from the Bank.    » read more »

14 December 2007 -- Donor nations have pledged a record $25 billion to help fight poverty in the world's poorest nations, which are home to two and a half billion people.

The new donations boost the bank's International Development Association's budget to more than $41 billion over the next three years.

A total of 45 nations pledged donations, including six new countries -- China, Cyprus, Egypt, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Egypt and China were once recipients of World Bank aid.    » read more »

• Major new research indicates that coral reefs will not survive the rapid increases in global temperatures and atmospheric CO2 that are forecast this century by the IPCC.

• The livelihoods of 100 million people living along the coasts of tropical developing countries will be among the first casualties of the loss of coral reef systems.

• Marine scientists argue for drastic action from world leaders on CO2 emissions.    » read more »

Almost $42 Billion for next three years

Berlin , December 14, 2007 – Donor countries today pledged a record US$ 25.1 billion for the World Bank to help overcome poverty in the world’s poorest countries. In total, the IDA15 replenishment will provide US$ 41.6 billion, an increase of US$ 9.5 billion over the previous replenishment (IDA14) which provided US$ 32.1 billion.    » read more »

The 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas flared or burnt off annually releases some 400 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions

WASHINGTON, DC, December 12, 2007— The World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership (GGFR) today welcomed ConocoPhillips’ decision to join and support the efforts of other oil producing countries and companies in minimizing the wasteful practice of burning natural gas –also known as gas flaring- and reducing greenhouse gases to mitigate the impact of climate change.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 12, 2007—A new World Bank research report finds that 22 countries* with the world’s highest numbers of TB cases could earn significantly more than they spend on TB diagnosis and treatment if they signed onto a global plan to sharply reduce the numbers of TB-related deaths. Highly affected African countries could gain up to 9 times their investments in TB control.    » read more »