Source:
IFIs Latin American Monitor
Fri Nov 30 2007
While the IBRD raises most of its funds on the world's financial markets, International Developmente Association (IDA) is funded largely by contributions from the governments of its richer member countries. Additional funds come from IBRD's and IFC’s income and from borrowers' repayments of earlier IDA credits. The IDA15 Replenishment is taking place this year and the fourth meeting took place in Dublin, Ireland, November 12-13. The major topics of discussion included country-level effectiveness, harmonization and alignment, results and climate change.
Donors meet every three years to replenish IDA funds and review IDA’s policies. The most recent replenishment of IDA’s resources the fourteenth replenishment (IDA14) was finalized in February 2005, and finances projects over the three-year period ending June 30, 2008. Donor contributions account for more than half of IDA14’s US$33 billion in resources to finance projects, a 25% increase over the previous replenishment and the largest increase in over two decades. Donors met to review IDA14’s progress at a Mid-Term Review meeting held in Washington, DC on November 2006.
To increase openness and help ensure that IDA’s policies are responsive to country needs and circumstances, representatives of borrower countries from each IDA region have been invited to take part in the replenishment negotiations since IDA13. The number of borrower representatives was expanded to a total of nine during the IDA14 negotiations. In addition, since IDA13, background policy papers are publicly released, as well as drafts of the replenishment reports prior to their finalization.
Will IDA 15 make a difference?
European civil society organisations had hoped, at the beginning of this year, that the 15th round of negotiations to replenish the World Bank concessional arm, the International Development Association (IDA), would be a chance for the main IDA donors to hold the Bank into account for their promises of change, and particularly on the commitments to reform their use of conditionality.
With IDA negotiations entering their final stages, tentative results of the process materialised in the draft IDA 15 report point at a failure of donor governments to do so. However, the deal is not yet done and there is a last chance to redress the current course of the negotiations before the final agreement is rubberstamped in Berlin on the 13th and 14th of December.
If IDA donors want to make a real difference on the effectiveness of IDA’s aid, they should get firm, specific and timetabled commitments from the Bank on the issues of country-level aid effectiveness and, particularly, on the implementation of the Good Practice Principles on conditionality.
* Read Eurodad’s comment on the draft IDA 15 report
U.S. coalition calls for World Bank reforms
A coalition of U.S. development and environmental groups has released a joint platform containing needed World Bank reforms, ahead of the IDA15 replenishment negotiations in Dublin, Ireland.
The platform identifies three critical reform areas the World Bank needs to address: ending economic policy conditionality, fighting energy poverty and climate change and increasing transparency and accountability at the World Bank. The coalition has also launched a lobbying campaign urging the U.S. Congress to require World Bank reforms while considering requests for additional appropriations for the World Bank in 2008.
A similar campaign is underway in Europe. (Debt Ireland Coaltion website for specific actions)
* U.S. Coalition Calls for World Bank Reforms (pdf format).
If you'd like to sign on to the platform, please send your organization's name and logo to Srabani Roy at sroy@bicusa.org.
Latin American perspective
As IDA work at low income countries, the mayority of Latin American countries are not directly affected by this process, being considered Middle Income Countries. However, countries under High Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) are strongly involved, such as Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua.
In each meetings some countries participate as observers of the process. In this case, representatives from Argentina, China and Croatia were invitated to Dublin.
* Read: Aid and debt issues for Latinamerica at the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings, by Patricia Miranda (Fundación Jubileo - Bolivia)
More information:
Less carrot, more stick please - Disappointing reforms at IDA 15, by Bretton Woods Project
Draft IDA15 Report for comments (pdf format)
World Bank IDA15 Replenishment website
Sources: World Bank, Eurodad and Bank Information Center
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