Category: World Bank

World Bank Expects Economic Growth in the Pacific Amid Debt, Inflation Worries

The World Bank predicts that Pacific economies will grow this year amid the reopening of international borders, but inflationary pressures and debt remain key concerns for the region, according to its report. In a report released on Tuesday, the World Bank said that Pacific nations will need to consider reforms and policies to boost equitable…


Climate Activists Set to Take Control of the World Bank

Commentary A change at the World Bank signals change in both U.S. development policy to climate concerns and, possibly, creates a geostrategic risk for the United States. David Malpass, the head of the World Bank, has announced he would leave the office in June, a year before his term was to expire. Malpass, who had been…


Biden Nominates Wall Street Veteran Ajay Banga as World Bank President

President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that the United States has nominated Ajay Banga, the former CEO of Mastercard, to serve as president of the World Bank. The nomination came just a week after current president David Malpass, a Trump nominee, announced his intention to resign early. Banga is a Wall Street veteran who was born…


Global Economy ‘Perilously Close’ to Recession, World Bank Warns

The global economy will come “perilously close” to slipping into a recession this year, the World Bank warned in its latest semi-annual report. The international lender slashed its global economic growth forecast by close to half, to 1.7 percent, led by slowing growth in the world’s top economies of the United States, Europe, and China….


Remove the Axis of Evil from the UN, World Bank, WTO, and the IMF? 

Commentary During World War II, the Axis powers—Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan—took on the free world with impunity. Arrayed against them were the Allies—the United States, the British Empire, and most of the Western world. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world again is squaring off in a struggle of good and evil….


Australia Commits $50 Million to Global Pandemic Fund

Australia has pledged $50 million (US$33.4 million) to the new Pandemic Fund, a new global fund launched by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Bali on Nov. 13. The Pandemic Fund, hosted by the World Bank, is the result of global lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, designed to improve preparedness capabilities for future pandemic threats…


Pakistan Requires Financial Reforms After Catastrophic Flood: World Bank

Pakistan will need to implement economic reforms and international assistance to recover from the catastrophic floods that killed over 1,500 people and destroyed millions of homes, a World Bank official said. Martin Raiser, World Bank vice president for South Asia, said on Sunday that Pakistan is in dire need of help from the international community….


IMF, World Bank Chiefs Issue Dire Warnings on Recession, Inflation

In a dialogue kicking off the first in-person meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) since the pandemic, the chiefs of the two institutions warned of a series of compounding crises threatening livelihoods, including persistent inflation and a growing risk of a global recession. In a “curtain raiser” on the morning of…


Record Production Brings Huge Gains to Australian Agriculture in 2020-2021

Australian agriculture had a bumper year in 2020-2021 as the sector witnessed a 17 percent surge in production value. New data from the 2020-2021 agricultural census released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the gross value of Australian agriculture hit $70.9 billion (US$49.18 billion) in the 2020-2021 financial year. The census, which…


Stagflation Risk Growing, Recession ‘Hard to Avoid,’ World Bank Warns

The global economy faces a mounting risk of stagflation—a toxic combination of high inflation and sluggish growth—and many countries could be choked by recession, the World Bank warned in a new report as it slashed over 1 percent from its 2022 economic growth forecast. The World Bank predicted in its June 7 outlook that the…