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This summary is prepared by the External Affairs Department of the World Bank. All material is taken directly from published and copyright wire service stories and newspaper articles. The daily summary and other news can be found on the World Bank’s external website at http://www.worldbank.org/news. For inquiries call (202) 473-7660 or send a written request to the News Bureau.______________________________
Thursday, April 21, 2011
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Today’s Headlines:
- Global Fund Says Millions Worth Of Donated Malaria Drugs Stolen In Africa
- China Issues White Paper On Foreign Aid
- South Sudan Seeks IMF Membership
- Haiti Leader In Bid For Quake Aid
- Afghans To Sell Kabul Bank As Cabinet Halts Law On Insider Loans
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Global Fund Says Millions Worth Of Donated Malaria Drugs Stolen In Africa. “A global health fund believes millions of dollars worth of its donated malaria drugs have been stolen in recent years, vastly exceeding the levels of theft previously suspected. The internal investigation by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria comes two months into a new anti-corruption program that the fund launched after a report detailing fraud in their grants attracted intense scrutiny from donors….” [Associated Press/Factiva]
The Guardian adds that “…the Global Fund identified 13 countries, mostly in Africa, where drugs have gone missing. Spokesman Jon Liden confirmed the fund suspects malaria drugs worth $2.5 million were stolen, mainly from 2009 to 2011. He said investigations are under way to determine how much was stolen elsewhere….” [The Guardian (UK)]
Bloomberg reports that “…seventy percent of the thefts were by insiders at government-distribution centers, Linden said. The countries under scrutiny include Tanzania, Togo, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Nigeria, Kenya and Cambodia. The Global Fund financed the purchase of $98 million in malaria medicine in the 13 countries during the past 2 1/2 years. Togo has repaid $600,000 of $850,000 in drugs the Global Fund confirmed as stolen, according to the organization. ‘The Global Fund is at the forefront of the response to drug theft” and “has acted upon each instance of misuse of its resources taking strong and swift action by suspending grants, freezing cash disbursements and demanding a return of misused funds,’ the organization said in a statement….” [Bloomberg]
China Issues White Paper On Foreign Aid. “China on Thursday issued a white paper on foreign aid, which gives an overall picture of the country's foreign aid activities in the past decades. The white paper, issued by the Information Office of the State Council, describes China's foreign aid policy, the financial resources of the aid, international cooperation in the aiding activities, as well as the forms, distribution and management of foreign aid….” [Xinhua/Factiva]
Bloomberg adds that “…China gave 45.7 percent of its total donor aid to countries in Africa in 2009 to help construction of infrastructure projects and the development of resources including oil and mines.
The nation has given out a total of $39.3 billion of cumulative foreign aid as of the end of 2009, according to the report distributed by the State Council’s Information Office. The aid fund has been growing at an average of 29.4 percent every year from 2004 to 2009, according to the paper….” [Bloomberg]
AP writes that “…while the report addresses some criticisms, saying Chinese projects employ local workers, it largely glosses over contentious issues. It lacks specifics on aid to particular countries and does not address complaints that many aid-backed projects require the use of Chinese contractors or are used to secure rights to oil, minerals or other natural resources. Still, the report marks a step toward transparency for a government that has largely refused to subject its aid program to international scrutiny….” [Associated Press/Factiva]
South Sudan Seeks IMF Membership. “South Sudan, on the brink of independence after winning a referendum on secession from the north, is seeking membership in the International Monetary Fund (IMF)…. ‘The International Monetary Fund has received an application from the authorities of South Sudan for admission to membership in the IMF after South Sudan becomes an independent country on July 9, 2011,’ the Washington-based multilateral institution said in a statement….” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]
Bloomberg adds that “…the IMF said in a statement that it will seek donor contributions for a trust fund that would provide technical assistance to the country as it seeks to build its economic institutions. The trust fund would ‘total $10.6 million for just under four years and aims to mobilize quickly, given the urgency of needs in South Sudan,’ the IMF said….” [Bloomberg]
The Sudan Tribune reports that “…the IMF describes South Sudan as one of the poorest regions in the world where 9 out of 10 people live on less than $1 a day. It has only about 30 miles of paved roads and almost 80 percent of services such as health, education, safe drinking water and sanitation are provided by NGO’s. Furthermore, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), almost half the population is in need of food assistance.
But the IMF notes that South Sudan is a region endowed with large oil reserves, fertile soil and many other minerals such as uranium, gold, and copper. ‘If these resources are properly managed, it has the potential to become a viable state and important player in the region.’ For the moment, the IMF stresses that South Sudan would face ‘major challenges in creating a functioning government.’…” [The Sudan Tribune]
Haiti Leader In Bid For Quake Aid. “Haiti’s president-elect Michel Martelly, who is visiting the US in an early bid to kick-start stalled reconstruction efforts of the earthquake-torn nation, has won wholehearted backing from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. ‘We are behind him, we have a great deal of enthusiasm,’ Clinton said on Wednesday during Martelly’s three-day visit to the US.
Martelly, who is expected to take office on May 14, on Tuesday met the heads of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank in an attempt to convince them to embrace his vision for a ‘new Haiti’ and step up reconstruction efforts, with more than 750,000 people still homeless….” [Financial Times]
AFP adds that “…Martelly has vowed his first six months as president will focus on moving hundreds of thousands of quake survivors out of squalid tent cities, tackling a resilient cholera epidemic, and boosting agricultural production. World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Martelly ‘discussed food prices, the policies that can spur job creation, education leading to employment, and the improvement of the business environment in Haiti,’ World Bank Special Envoy to Haiti Alexandre Abrantes told AFP….” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]
Meanwhile, AP writes that “… on Wednesday Martelly was officially declared Haiti’s next president…. A spokesman for Haiti's electoral commission, Pierre Thibault, said Martelly won the presidency with 67.57 percent of the vote, defeating rival candidate Mirlande Manigat….” [Associated Press/Factiva]
Afghans To Sell Kabul Bank As Cabinet Halts Law On Insider Loans. “Afghanistan’s government will divide and sell the country’s biggest bank, which collapsed last year from losses on loans to its owners, including brothers of President Hamid Karzai and his vice president. A government commission will take more than $570 million in fraudulent loans from Kabul Bank before the rest of the company is offered for sale, central bank Governor Abdul Qadeer Fitrat told reporters Wednesday….” [Bloomberg]
The NYT adds that “…under the plan, the government has divided Kabul Bank into a ‘good bank’ with its deposits, performing loans and other assets, and a second institution that will handle the hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans, Afghan banking officials said. The second bank’s purpose would be to recoup the bad loans. The bank lent $909 million including interest, primarily to its own shareholders, in violation of the country’s banking laws. Much of the money has yet to be repaid, said Fitrat….” [The New York Times]
AP reports that “…the bank scandal weakened confidence in Afghanistan's financial system and has prevented the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from completing a new program for the country. Britain's Department for International Development said it would delay nearly $138 million in aid to Afghanistan this year because of the lack of IMF support.
An IMF spokesman said the Fund's staff had talks with Afghan authorities on the plan to address issues at Kabul Bank and strengthen the Afghan banking system. Preliminary understandings were reached on most issues, but talks will continue on specific steps linked to some measures, the IMF spokesman said….” [Associated Press/Factiva]
Also in This Edition, Briefly Noted… Kenya aims to half the time it takes to process goods through customs at ports with investment in a $6 million ‘single window’ system where companies will lodge documentation. [Reuters/Factiva]
President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan has said for the first time that he accepts full personal responsibility for the conflict in Darfur that left tens of thousands of people dead. [The Guardian (UK)]
Brazil's central bank boosted its key interest rate to 12 percent Wednesday in a further effort to clamp down on inflation. [Agence France Presse/Factiva]
Asian countries should erect capital controls to counter an influx of hot money into the region, stoking worries over asset price bubbles, the Asian Development Bank Institute said Thursday. [Agence France Presse/Factiva]
China is to lift the exemption threshold for personal income tax payments in an effort to redistribute the spoils of rapid growth and reduce a widening wealth gap. [Financial Times]
The impact of last month's devastating quake-tsunami disaster will slash Japan's economic growth to 0.8 percent this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Thursday, halving its earlier forecast of 1.7 percent. [Agence France Presse/Factiva]
Bangladesh's highest court rejected on Tuesday an appeal by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus against his dismissal as managing director of Grameen Bank, the microlender he founded. [Reuters/Factiva]
The Egyptian economy shrank 7 percent in the third quarter of the fiscal year that ends on June 30, Finance Minister Samir Radwan said. [Reuters/Factiva]
Municipal policymakers in various countries should take basic city infrastructure improvement as part of their solutions to curb urban violence, the World Bank said in its Violence in the City report launched Wednesday. [Xinhua/Factiva]
Researchers at the International Wheat Stripe Rust Symposium said that aggressive strains of wheat rust disease decimated 40 percent of farmers' wheat fields in recent harvests across large areas around the globe. [Xinhua/Factiva]
A tax on airline tickets in 15 countries has generated some $2 billion since 2006 to fight three major diseases in developing countries, Philippe Douste-Blazy, UN special advisor said Wednesday. [Agence France Presse/Factiva]
The increasing utilization of biofuel can play a role as important as to provide up to 27 percent of world transportation fuel by 2050 if favorable policy and investment are in place, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Wednesday. [Xinhua/Factiva]
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