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IMF, World Bank consider 'virtual' Spring Meetings as virus spreads

David Lawder, Reuters
Posted at Feb 27 08:21 AM

Growing concerns inside the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank about the spread of the new coronavirus have prompted the institutions to consider scaling back their Spring Meetings in April or hold them by teleconference, people familiar with the discussions said.   Read more »

World Bank pandemic bond under pressure as coronavirus spreads

Karin Strohecker, Reuters
Posted at Feb 20 08:43 AM

The bonds, issued by the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), offer investors high coupons in return for the risk of having to forgo some or all their money in the event of pandemic outbreaks of a number of infectious diseases, with the funds channeled instead to countries in need of aid. Read more »

World Bank rules out new China loans to fight coronavirus, president says

David Lawder, Reuters
Posted at Feb 11 09:04 AM

The World Bank is offering technical assistance to China to help battle the coronavirus epidemic but no new loans, the development lender's president, David Malpass, said on Monday.   Read more »

World Bank to lower global growth forecast over virus outbreak

Agence France-Presse
Updated as of Feb 05 09:08 AM

The World Bank will revise its global growth forecast downwards due to the new coronavirus, the president of the multilateral lender said Tuesday, amid fears the epidemic in China will harm global supply chains.   Read more »

World Bank calls for global effort against virus

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Feb 04 08:23 AM

The new virus has infected 17,200 people and spread to more than 20 countries. China's financial markets tanked on Monday due to fears it could paralyze the country and harm the global economy. Read more »

World Bank trims 2020 growth forecast amid slow recovery for trade, investment

David Lawder, Reuters
Updated as of Jan 09 07:40 AM

The multilateral development bank said 2019 marked the weakest economic expansion since the global financial crisis a decade ago, and 2020, while a slight improvement, remained vulnerable to uncertainties over trade and geopolitical tensions.   Read more »

Your money or your life: Can nations prosper by putting well-being before GDP in 2020?

Rina Chandran, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Posted at Jan 02 11:42 AM

With protests from Chile to Hong Kong last year over widening inequality, violence against women, and climate change, more policymakers and campaigners started to openly debate potential shifts away from an economic model that relies on growth. Read more »

Massive debt wave could crash on developing countries, World Bank warns

Heather Scott, Agence France-Presse
Posted at Dec 20 09:08 AM

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have been sounding the warning about growing global debt for years, but the latest report is even more stark and turned up the volume on its calls for governments to take steps to prevent a debt crisis. Read more »

Massive debt wave could crash on developing countries, World Bank warns

Heather Scott, Agence France-Presse
Posted at Dec 20 03:51 AM

A wave of debt in emerging and developing nations has grown faster and larger than in any period of the last five decades and could end with another crisis, the World Bank warned Thursday.   Read more »

World Bank fund for poor countries gets record boost

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Dec 14 02:23 AM

A key World Bank fund dedicated to lifting countries out of poverty has received a record $82 billion in funding and pledges for the next three years, its president said Friday. Read more »

Trump calls for World Bank to stop loaning to China

Reuters
Posted at Dec 07 10:11 AM

US President Donald Trump on Friday called for the World Bank to stop loaning money to China, one day after the institution adopted a lending plan to Beijing over Washington's objections. Read more »

'Catastrophe bonds' provide $225-M cover for Philippines: World Bank

Jessica Fenol, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Nov 26 10:54 AM

The bonds, issued by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will cover up to $75 million in losses from earthquakes and up to $150 million from tropical cyclones, the Washington-based lender said in a statement. Read more »

World Bank scales back project in China’s Xinjiang region

Alan Rappeport, The New York Times
Posted at Nov 12 08:59 AM

The Chinese government has been facing criticism for detaining more than a million Muslim Uighurs and placing them in “re-education” camps where they are forced to renounce their religious beliefs and embrace the ideology of the Communist Party. Read more »

Gov't eyes reforms to improve ease of doing business in PH

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Oct 26 12:06 AM

The World Bank commends the encouraging reforms done by the Philippines to improve the ease of doing business in the country. Read more »

PH jumps 29 notches to 95th place in World Bank doing business report

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Oct 24 11:51 PM

The Philippines jumped 29 notches in the World Bank's latest ease of doing business report. Read more »

Philippines jumps in World Bank ease of doing business ranking

ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Oct 24 09:06 PM

The Philippines rose to 95th place from 124th while its over-all score improved to 62.9 from 60.9 point in 2019, the World Bank said. China and India made the top 10 list of governments that have done the most in the past year to improve. Read more »

Competition commission pushes for creation of 'National Competition Policy'

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Oct 10 10:49 PM

The World Bank slashed its growth outlook for the Philippines, citing lack of competition as one of the reasons. The Philippine Competition Commission is already seeking ways that will help address the problem. Read more »

Asia-Pacific 2019 growth to slow to 5.8 pct on trade tensions - World Bank

Reuters
Posted at Oct 10 02:59 PM

Economic growth in the region is forecast to slip to 5.8 percent in 2019 from 6.3 percent in 2018.   Read more »

World Bank: PH to miss 2019 growth target

Gillan Ropero, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Oct 10 06:15 PM

The World Bank said Thursday it lowered its growth forecasts for the Philippine economy, citing the delayed passage of the 2019 national budget and Philippine government's spending ban on new projects before the May midterm elections. Read more »

Water pollution can reduce economic growth by a third: World Bank

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Aug 21 08:01 AM

The report relied on what the Bank said was the biggest-ever database assembled on global water quality using monitoring stations, satellite data and machine learning models. Read more »