Policies & Procedures

• Safeguard policies
Include Environmental Assessments and
policies designed to prevent unintended adverse
effects on third parties and the environment
• Fiduciary policies
Include rules governing financial management,
procurement, and disbursement
• Management policies
covering such areas as project Monitoring and
evaluation
 The World Bank and financial sector reform:-

• Financial sector reform constitutes a major area

of work for the World Bank. The financial and
private sector development vice presidency -
which is jointly run by the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), the private-sector funding arm
of the Bank, and the main part of the Bank -
undertakes reform work in the sector through its
financial sector operations and policy
department. Additional private sector work is
undertaken separately within the IFC by the
global financial markets department within the
industries vice presidency.
• Banking markets as focus of reform:-
World Bank's work in financial sector reform covers
many areas i.e. credit markets, payments systems,
insurance regulation - the banking sector has been the
dominant area of work. The Independent Evaluation
Group analysis of financial sector reform at the Bank
found three main pillars for the Bank's work:
privatization of state-owned banks, improvement of
regulatory frameworks and strengthened supervision
of banks.
• Joint Bank-Fund programmes – FSAP:-
Because of the Asian financial crisis and
previous lack of collaboration in financial sector
reform, the Bank and IMF jointly launched the
Financial Sector Assessment Programme
(FSAP) in May 1999. With the assistance of
experts from other agencies, the Bank and Fund
are invited by member countries "to identify the
strengths and vulnerabilities of a country's
financial system.
The criticisms of the World Bank
• Conditionality:-
Borrowing countries are required to meet
certain conditions before receiving aid, usually
involving liberalizing markets and privatizing
nationalized industry
• Environmental Damage:-
World Bank doesn’t take environmental damage
and the displacement of indigenous populations
into account when considering Bank projects.
• Defensive Lending :-
The bank is criticised for keeping nations from
defaulting on loans by providing additional loans.
“This so-called ‘defensive lending’ papers over
both the poor quality of the Bank’s lending
practices and the consequent growth in debt
among its borrowers.
• Voting Rights :-
Decision-making power for each of the Bank’s
institutions is based on a member state’s
financial contribution
• Corruption
• AIDS controversy
• Growth alone is not the answer
• Rural areas
• Failed to conduct sufficient analysis to inform its
policy advice and lending
• Price and exchange rate liberalisations were not
accompanied by the necessary offsetting
measures
• Failed to sufficiently address the pension system's
primary goal of reducing poverty
• Grant loans under external pressure
• Anti-corruption efforts must understand
political economy
• World Bank research ‘not remotely reliable’
• New research methods have been promoted
“without adequate evaluation”
• Remarkably little work co-authored by non-
Bank researchers from developing countries
• Bank support for private healthcare
questioned
• World Bank and Privatization
• conditionalities imposed on borrower
countries
• deregulation and privatization of nationalized
industries
• development projects funded by the IBRD
• World Bank governance structures
Emerging Development Challenges
• Strengthening Governance and
Accountability
• Initiating Multilateral Debt Relief
• Implementing the Africa Action Plan
• Financing Middle-Income Country Strategies
• Supporting Agriculture
• Responding to Climate Change
• Working with Sub national Governments
• Pursuing Greater Aid Effectiveness
• Bridging the democratic deficit
• World Bank corruption fight drags on