Our Bank Watch alerts summarize key pipeline loans of the international financial institutions, including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The purpose is to track industry trends and challenge problematic loans before they are finalized. We are particularly concerned with projects that mandate privatization of water and sanitation systems or cost recovery from the poor.

July 2011

This quarterly Bank Watch alert contains the details of six water supply and sanitation projects in the International Finance Corporation (Brazil), Inter-American Development Bank (Barbados), African Development Bank (Egypt, Rwanda), and the World Bank (Bhutan, Ethiopia).

The key findings of this report highlight a continued trend towards privatization, which includes public-private partnerships, cost recovery and often, decentralization.

Issues like International Competitive Bidding (ICB) and land pooling are also present. ICB is a bidding process that requires the borrower to obtain the goods and services required for the loan by opening itself up to international competitors. ICB is predominant in Inter-American Development Bank projects in Latin America. Land pooling is a method whereby the ownership of land is pooled in order to build roads and infrastructure. Each landowner contributes (loses) a portion of their previous land holding to the project itself and an additional portion in order to pay for the cost of planning, administration, and construction. Read more.

January 2011

World Bank loans featured are in: Niger, Albania, Peru and China.
IDB loans featured are in: Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Read more.

February 2010

This quarterly Bank Watch alert contains the details of six water supply and sanitation projects in the International Finance Corporation (Brazil), Inter-American Development Bank (Barbados), African Development Bank (Egypt, Rwanda), and the World Bank (Bhutan, Ethiopia).

The key findings of this report highlight a continued trend towards privatization, which includes public-private partnerships, cost recovery and often, decentralization.

Issues like International Competitive Bidding (ICB) and land pooling are also present. ICB is a bidding process that requires the borrower to obtain the goods and services required for the loan by opening itself up to international competitors. ICB is predominant in Inter-American Development Bank projects in Latin America. Land pooling is a method whereby the ownership of land is pooled in order to build roads and infrastructure. Each landowner contributes (loses) a portion of their previous land holding to the project itself and an additional portion in order to pay for the cost of planning, administration, and construction. Read more.