Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A PROJECTS REPORT ON
OF
WORLD BANK
(For the fulfillment of class assignment)
Presented to
Prof. Shegorika
Presented by
Section-FN5
Sourabh Khurana(62)
NEW-DELHI
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
Page 1
World Bank
INDEX
Topics
Pg no
World Bank
President:
Robert B. Zoellick
Membership:
World Bank
Affiliates
Headquarters
Staff
programs (e.g. bridges, roads, schools, etc.) with the stated goal of reducing
poverty.
The World Bank differs from the World Bank Group, in that the World Bank
comprises only two institutions:
The World Bank was created following the ratification of the United Nations
Monetary and Financial Conference of the Bretton Woods agreement. The
concept was originally conceived in July 1944 at the United Nations Monetary
and Financial Conference. Two years later, the Bank issued its first loan:
US$250 million to France for post-war reconstruction, the main focus of the
Bank's work in the early post-World War II years. Over time, the
"development" side of the Bank's work has assumed a larger share of its
lending, although it is still involved in post-conflict reconstruction, together
with reconstruction after natural disasters, response to humanitarian
emergencies and post-conflict rehabilitation needs affecting developing and
transition economies. There were criticisms of the results of the World Bank's
"development schemes" leading to corruption and widespread exploitation
by the corporations who are given monopolies of developing nations'
resources.
The World Bank is one of the two Bretton Woods Institutions which were
created in 1944 to rebuild a war-torn Europe after World War II. Later, largely
due to the contributions of the Marshall Plan, the World Bank was forced to
find a new area in which to focus its efforts. Subsequently, it began
attempting to rebuild the infrastructure of Europe's former colonies. Since
then it has made a variety of changes regarding its focus and goals. From
1968-1981 it focused largely on poverty alleviation. In the 1980s and 1990s
its main focus was both debt management and structural adjustment.
Each institution plays a different but collaborative role to advance the vision
of an inclusive and sustainable globalization. The IBRD focuses on middle
income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest
countries in the world. Together we provide low-interest loans, interest-free
credits and grants to developing countries for a wide array of purposes that
include investments in education, health, public administration,
infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture, and
environmental and natural resource management.
The World Bank’s projects and operations are designed to support low-
income and middle-income countries’ poverty reduction strategies. Countries
develop strategies around a range of reforms and investments likely to
improve people’s lives from universal education to passable roads, from
quality health care to improved governance and inclusive economic growth.
In parallel, the Bank strives to align its assistance with the country’s
priorities and harmonize its aid program with other agencies to boost aid
effectiveness.
The World Bank also strives to tackle global challenges from international
trade to climate change and debt relief. It does so within each country’s
specific socio-economic context, adapting programs to country capacity and
needs.
The Bank obtains funding for its operations primarily through the IBRD’s sale
of AAA-rated bonds in the world’s financial markets. The IBRD’s income is
generated from its lending activities, with its borrowings leveraging its own
paid-in capital, plus the investment of its "float". The IDA obtains the majority
of its funds from forty donor countries who replenish the bank’s funds every
three years, and from loan repayments, which then become available for re-
lending. –
The Vice Presidents of the Bank are its principal managers, in charge of
regions, sectors, networks and functions. There are 24 Vice-Presidents, 3
Senior Vice Presidents and 2 Executive Vice Presidents.
The paper also lays out a country's external financing needs for meeting
those goals, such as loans and grants from the World Bank and other donors,
that are meant to promote economic growth and reduce poverty.
The Bank and other donor agencies line up their assistance with these
countries' priorities and targets.
The World Bank provides training and technical and financial assistance to
support the design and of national poverty-reduction strategies. For example,
it helps countries improve their poverty analysis, public expenditure
management, and service evaluation. It also offers Poverty Reduction
Support Credits (PRSCs), annual programmatic loans, to support the
implementation of these strategies.
Both the World Bank' International Development Association (IDA) and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) require a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
in order for low-income countries to receive lower cost financial assistance
from the Bank (through IDA) and the IMF (through its Poverty Reduction and
Growth Facility).
The Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) - also called in some cases Country
Partnership Strategy or Joint Assistance Strategy - lays out a selective
program of World Bank Group support for a particular country. This strategy
is developed by Bank staff in meetings with government officials, in
consultation with country authorities, civil society organizations,
development partners and other stakeholders. It takes as a starting point the
country's own long-term vision for development and takes into account the
Bank Group's comparative advantages in the context of other donor
activities. The strategy is designed to promote collaboration and coordination
among development partners in a country.
poverty. The CAS identifies the key areas where the Bank Group's assistance
can have the biggest impact on poverty reduction. In its diagnosis, the CAS
takes into account the performance of the Bank's portfolio in the country, the
country's creditworthiness, state of institutional development,
implementation capacity, governance, and other sectoral and cross-cutting
issues. From this assessment, the level and composition of Bank Group
financial, advisory, and/or technical support to the country is determined.
Development policy operations typically run from one to three years, and
provide quick-disbursing external financing to support government policy
and institutional reforms. Originally designed to provide support for
macroeconomic policy reforms, development policy loans, credits and grants
now focus more on structural, financial sector and social policy reforms -
improving, for example, the management of public resources, the functioning
of the judiciary or promoting good governance.
In all the projects it finances, the World Bank takes its responsibility to
shareholders, donors and investors seriously. The Bank works diligently to
make sure that procurement for projects is conducted appropriately, so that
loan and other funds are used for their intended purposes.
The World Bank is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and
knowledge for developing countries. India is one of our oldest members,
having joined the institution at its inception in 1944.
In India, the World Bank works in close partnership with the Central and
State Governments. It also works with other development partners: bilateral
and multilateral donor organizations, nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), the private sector, and the general public—including academics,
scientists, economists, journalists, teachers, and local people involved in
development projects.
The World Bank's work plan in India is spelt out in its Country Strategy (CAS).
The Country Strategy for India is closely aligned with India's own
development priorities and describes what kind of support and how much
can be provided to the country over a period of around four years.
The Country Strategy for India for 2009-2012 is aligned with the
government's Eleventh Five Year Plan. It focuses on helping the country to
fast-track the development of much-needed infrastructure, support the
seven poorest states, and respond to the financial crisis.
.
The strategy was arrived at after a series of consultations with a broad range
of stakeholders, including members of the government and civil society.
.
The strategy envisages total proposed lending of US$14 billion for 2009 -
2012. As private financing dries up in the wake of the global financial
crisis, the Bank has agreed to provide an additional US$ 3 billion as part of
the total financing envelope of US$ 14 billion.
The strategy is implemented through lending, dialogue, analytical work,
engagement with the private sector, and capacity building exercises.
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
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World Bank
Various financing options are available based upon the type of assistance
needed. It is important to note that the implementation of projects is
managed by the government itself. The government designates an office,
referred to as the Project Implementing Agency (PIU), which is responsible for
The Bank’s operational policies set guidelines to ensure that projects meet
its own criteria such as social and environmental standards. Projects are
evaluated to capture and share lessons for similar projects in future.
lending
At the end of June 2008, the World Bank group had 60 active projects in the
country. The net commitment for these projects was about US$ 13.8 billion.
New lending in FY08 (1 July 2007- 30 June 2008) amounted to US$2.7
billion.
Studies and Reports
The World Bank also produces studies and reports based upon its own
analysis of a given issue. Topics of research come from the Bank's Country
Strategy. This research is intended to provide an unbiased perspective on a
range of specific development challenges faced by the country.
Loans
The Bank offers two basic types of loans: investment loans and development
policy loans. The former are made for the support of economic and social
development projects, whereas the latter provide quick disbursing finance to
support countries’ policy and institutional reforms. While the IBRD provides
loans with a relatively low interest rate, the IDA’s "credits" are interest free.
The project proposals of borrowers are evaluated for their economical,
financial, social and environmental aspects prior to their approval. But not all
of this is true, somtimes its different.
Grants
The Bank also distributes grants for the facilitation of development projects
through the encouragement of innovation, cooperation between
organizations and the participation of local stakeholders in projects. IDA
grants are predominantly used for:
• Debt burden relief in the most indebted and poverty struck countries
• Amelioration of sanitation and water supply
• Support of vaccination and immunization programs for the reduction of
communicable diseases such as malaria
• Combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic
• Support civil society organizations
• Creating initiatives for the reduction of greenhouse gases
• Taking to the forests and helping thive in the rainforests.
Treasury’s Approach
management tools.
• Banking products
• Public debt management
• Asset management
• Capital markets and risk management
Asset Management
• Governance
• Strategic asset allocation
• Implementation of index, enhanced index and active portfolios
• Managing outside asset managers
• Measuring, monitoring
Treasury may be engaged at any stage of the funding process, from the
development of the overall market access strategy to the execution of
individual transactions. As Treasury does not manage or underwrite
transactions, its advice is useful for clients wanting an independent but
highly experienced and successful source of information on these topics.
Banking products:
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
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World Bank
Low income countries are the world's poorest economies, with annual gross
national incomes (GNI) of less than $905 per person (in 2007). Because of
the degree and extent of their poverty, low-income countries receive
financial assistance on "concessional terms" from the World Bank through
the International Development Association (IDA). This means that IDA credits
have no or very little interest charge and repayments are stretched over 35
to 40 years, including a 10-year grace period. IDA also provides grants to
countries at risk of debt distress.
A third of the world's poor, defined as people who earn less than $2 per day,
live in middle-income countries. Unlike the widespread poverty one finds in
low-income countries, absolute poverty in middle-income countries tends to
be more localized in particular regions or among specific ethnic groups.
Middle-income countries are generally creditworthy and have access to
financial markets. These countries borrow from the World Bank's Group
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (Low-income
countries like India and Pakistan which also borrow from IBRD are known by
the Bank as "blend" countries.)
conflict-Affected Countries
Fragile States contain a significant number of the world's poor. Their state
policies and institutions are weak, and the countries often face risks of
conflict and political instability. They also share a range of bleak economic
indicators-from GDP per capita levels that are typically half that of other low-
income countries to child mortality rates that are twice as high. Weak state
policies and institutions undermine the country's capacity to deliver services
to citizens, control corruption, or provide for sufficient voice and
accountability. Also, fragile states can and do create negative spillovers for
their neighbors, such as social and political instability caused by refugee
flows.
Small states
Small states are not easily defined - some are quite wealthy, some very poor.
Some are islands or groups of islands. Others are land locked. All have
populations of 1.5 million or less. Small states are especially vulnerable to
external events, including natural disasters. Many small states suffer from
limited capacity in the public and private sectors. Others are facing an
uncertain and difficult economic transition to a changing world trade regime.
The declaration calls for action on both sides of the aid relationship-by aid
donors and by aid recipients. It contains five key principles: country
ownership (where country partners set the agenda), harmonization,
alignment, managing for results and mutual accountability.
Harmonization
Harmonization entails working to coordinate our financial aid and capacity
building activities with that of other donors operating in a developing
country. It also commits donors and countries to work in unison on regional
and global programs, and it encourages stronger partnerships with borrower
governments and among donors in undertaking research and analysis. The
idea is to benefit from each others' knowledge and areas of expertise and
avoid duplication of cost and effort. Reducing the transaction costs of aid for
recipient countries and eliminating multiple, burdensome requirements also
helps boost overall aid effectiveness. The World Bank is taking steps to
promote harmonization by:
Alignment
Alignment means that our and other donors' development assistance is in
line with our partner country's national development strategies, priorities
and systems. The aim is to increase country capacity for development
through our coordinated technical assistance and to achieve better
Vietnam receives close to US$3 billion a year from more than 30 bilateral and
multilateral donor institutions. The World Bank serves as the coordinator and,
often, a catalyst for foreign aid to Vietnam not only because of the funds it
mobilizes but also because of its recognized technical expertise.
In Ghana, the Bank's over-arching goal is to support the country's growth and
poverty reduction objectives. The CAS approved in May 2007 lays out objectives,
baselines, targets, government actions and partner contributions. For example, the
Bank proposes to help Ghana sustain economic growth of a t least 6% per year;
surpass the 2015 Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty; and start to
reduce inequalities.
Some critics of the World Bank believe that the institution was not started in
order to reduce poverty but rather to support United States' business
interests, and argue that the bank has actually increased poverty and been
detrimental to the environment, public health, and cultural diversity.[10] Some
critics also claim that the World Bank has consistently pushed a neoliberal
agenda, imposing policies on developing countries which have been
damaging, destructive and anti-developmental.[11][12] Some intellectuals in
developing countries have argued that the World Bank is deeply implicated
in contemporary modes of donor and NGO driven imperialism and that its
intellectual output functions to blame the poor for their condition.
The World Bank supported from the beginning the Brazilian Castello Branco’s
authoritarian-rightist government, supplying it with a $80 million loan for
power projects.
It has also been suggested that the World Bank is an instrument for the
promotion of U.S. or Western interests in certain regions of the world.
Consequently, seven South American nations have established the Bank of
the South in order to minimize U.S. influence in the region.[15] Criticisms of
the structure of the World Bank refer to the fact that the President of the
Bank is always a citizen of the United States, nominated by the President of
the United States (though subject to the approval of the other member
countries). There have been accusations that the decision-making structure
is undemocratic, as the U.S. effectively has a veto on some constitutional
decisions with just over 16% of the shares in the bank; [16] moreover,
decisions can only be passed with votes from countries whose shares total
more than 85% of the bank's shares. A further criticism concerns internal
governance and the manner in which the World Bank is alleged to lack
transparency to external publics.
In 2008, a World Bank report which found that biofuels had driven food prices
up 75% was not published. Officials confided that they believed it was
withheld from publication to avoid embarrassing the President of the United
States, George W. Bush.
The World Bank also plays an important role in many conspiracy theories
such as the New World Order, where it is accused to be a catalyst for the
growing global social disparity aiming at the financial enslavement of the
western world, matching conditions with the third world, through the control
of global monetary policies.