The World Bank is pursuing an ambitious program of reform to enable the institution to become more efficient and effective while also gaining more legitimacy among the developing countries that it serves, World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick said.

In a speech at the start of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Istanbul, Turkey, Zoellick said the World Bank’s reforms would focus on improving development effectiveness, promoting accountability and good governance, and continuing to increase cost efficiency. 

“To serve the changing global economy, the world needs agile, nimble, competent, and accountable institutions,” Zoellick told the meeting of the Board of Governors of the World Bank Group. “The World Bank Group will improve its legitimacy, efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability, and further expand its cooperation with the UN, the IMF, the other Multilateral Development Banks, donors, civil society, and foundations which have become increasingly important development actors.” 

Zoellick noted that when the World Bank was established in 1944, the world was different from today. The institution was formed by 44 countries whereas its membership today stood at 186. The developing countries of today were mostly still colonies. This system had long passed and the political economy of the 21st century demanded a changed order that reflected the growing role of developing countries. They were now a source of potential economic growth that could lead to a more balanced world economy.

Read more – http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/0,,contentMDK:22340534~menuPK:258658~pagePK:2865106~piPK:2865128~theSitePK:258644,00.html

As the global economic cycle moves to recovery, there are grounds for optimism that sub-Saharan Africa’s performance relative to the rest of the world will be better than in the past, the IMF says.

But the world slowdown is exacting a heavy toll that is all the more harmful given endemic poverty.

In its Regional Economic Outlook for the subcontinent, the IMF says that sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is set for a recovery to mirror that projected for the rest of the world. The report adds that while average per capita incomes should escape the sustained reductions that marked previous downturns, living standards for some may deteriorate markedly and there may be some acute increases in poverty.

Policies in most SSA economies seem to be responding more positively to the current global economic crisis better than they have in the past, the report states. Fiscal and monetary policies have helped counter the effects of the slowdown and the region seems to have generally avoided the major macroeconomic instabilities that followed previous global downturns.

“The effective use of counter-cyclical macroeconomic tools marks a new era in the policy environment of sub-Saharan Africa,” Antoinette Sayeh, Director of the IMF’s African Department, said in a press briefing.

Read more – http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2009/CAR100309B.htm

Sunday, Istanbul, 5 October 2009 – Japan and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have committed a grant of USD 1,000,000 to the African Training and Management Services Project (ATMS) from the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA). In a ceremony organized on the side of the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Istanbul, a grant agreement was signed today by AfDB Private Sector Operations Director, Mr. Tim Turner and ATMS Chairman Mr. J. Berteling.

The technical assistance contribution from FAPA will be used to sponsor Small and Medium Enterprises in Africa through capacity building services to grow and succeed, and to create employment opportunities. Specifically, FAPA funds will be applied through the ATMS Foundation to provide interim-management / placement services and in-situ training to SMEs to address management skills shortcomings. These services are provided by AMSCO (African Management Services Company), the executing agent of the ATMS project, which carries out the operational part of the ATMS project.

The ATMS project is an ongoing unique collaboration between the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), each with a specific role in the project. The ATMS Project is structured as a UNDP Regional Project, while the IFC acts as the Executing Agency and AfDB as the Regional Cooperating Agency, supported by the African governments. The project consists of two interrelated components: AMSCO BV and the ATMS Foundation.

Read more – http://www.afdb.org/en/news-events/article/japan-and-afdb-commit-usd-1-million-technical-assistance-grant-for-sme-capacity-building-in-africa-5156/