IFIs and the Middle East & North Africa

Issue #1

Friday, April 04, 2008

Dear colleagues,

Hello, and welcome to the first edition of "The IFIs and the Middle East & North Africa," a brand-new newsletter from the Bank Information Center! We have developed this newsletter to better serve our partners in the region, as well as interested colleagues from around the world.

The subject of the newsletter will be the activities and strategies of international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and IMF in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region. It will contain web updates from BIC's MENA webpage as well as information on what's new with BIC's MENA Program. We hope to produce the newsletter about once a month.

BIC is also producing a full Arabic version of the newsletter, which is available here.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any colleagues you think might be interested. They can subscribe to the newsletter by sending a request to mena@bicusa.org.

What's new on the MENA webpage?

In the past weeks, the MENA Program has created brand-new web content in both English and Arabic for the MENA webpage. Some highlights include:

• A new Yemen country page
• An Arabic version of the Yemen page
• An Arabic version of the Transparency page

We are currently undertaking a major effort to translate many of our relevant pages into Arabic, and are preparing a fully functional Arabic version of our website. Please stay tuned!

Updates

As poverty increases in Palestine, World Bank continues to link aid to austerity measures

25 March 2008

Donors, led by the World Bank, still insist on linking aid for the Palestinian Authority to the removal of subsidies from basic services, in spite of a recent Bank study that highlights increasing poverty and unemployment rates in the West Bank and Gaza. The suggested cuts in the wage bill in the security, health and education sectors could further hinder Palestine's ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Read more.

IFC takes the lead on Yemen’s tax reform

13 March 2008

While IFC meeting with government and private sector is expected to lower corporate taxes, World Bank and IMF conditions will double the General Sales Tax in 2009. Read more.

IFC advises Yemeni government on Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in priority sectors

7 March 2008

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) presents investment opportunities that could hurt the poor, who have already been hit by increasing food prices. Read more.

World Bank reinventing its role in the Arab world

29 February 2008

New threats and opportunities have pushed the World Bank toward a new form of engagement in the Middle East and North Africa region. Read more.

Iraq renews $744 million loan from the IMF

13 February 2008

Iraq’s renewed Stand-By Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) includes macroeconomic policy reforms that may restrict fiscal space for public spending, particularly on the public wage bill. It also continues the deep involvement of international financial institutions in Iraq’s oil sector. Read more.

Iraq to cut food subsidies

1 February 2008

The Arab newspaper Azzaman reported last week that the Iraqi government plans to reduce its food rationing program "in line with the obligations it has made to the World Bank." Read more.

Did the World Bank and the IMF use false statistics to build their economic success story in Egypt?

17 January 2008

A report issued by the Egyptian Central Auditing Organization accuses the Egyptian government of using misleading financial statistics. Read more.

World Bank pressed to disclose documents on controversial Yemen reform program

2 January 2008

Policy conditions attached to the $50 million grant include a reduction of the civil service, land reform, and lower corporate taxes. Read more.

Did You Know...

Where the World Bank gets its money?

Although member countries pledge fees to the World Bank Group, the bulk of the capital that the World Bank's middle-income lending window (IBRD) uses to finance projects comes from selling bonds on international financial markets and earning interest from borrowing countries. The IBRD has made a profit every year since 1947.

The Bank's private sector lending arm, the IFC, earns profit on its own private investments. According to the IFC’s 2006 Annual Report, it has earned more than US$4.2 billion over the last three years alone.

A portion of the profits from IBRD, and more recently the IFC, are used to finance the Bank Group’s administrative budget and to provide funds to its soft-loan window, IDA. While IFC and IBRD transfers have in the past accounted for around 10 percent of IDA funding, the majority of IDA money comes from donor government contributions. The major donors to IDA, called the IDA Deputies, meet every three years to discuss new priorities for the institution and to determine their respective contributions. This process is called the “IDA replenishment process.” Donor countries usually use this process to influence World Bank operations, linking their donations to certain policies, strategies and future lending priorities.

Note: You have automatically been signed up to receive BIC's general newsletter, the IF-Eye. If you prefer not to receive it, follow the instructions at the bottom of this email or send a request to mena@bicusa.org.

Note: The text of this newsletter may be freely used providing the source is credited.

The Bank Information Center (BIC) partners with civil society in developing and transition countries to influence the World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs) to promote social and economic justice and ecological sustainability. BIC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection of rights, participation, transparency, and public accountability in the governance and operations of the World Bank, regional development banks, and IMF.

BIC is supported by private foundations and organizations that work in the fields of environment and development. BIC is not affiliated with any of the Multilateral Development Banks, nor does it receive any funding from them.

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