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world bank

The World Bank has accountability problem

In April members of impoverished fishing and farming communities near the Tata Mundra coal-fired power plant in Gujarat, India, filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C., against the World Bank Group’s private lending arm, the International Financial Corp. (IFC), which funded the project, seeking remedies for harms to their environment, livelihood and health. The IFC is asking the district court to dismiss the suit, claiming absolute immunity for harms caused by the project, which would leave the plaintiffs without an effective avenue of redress. “The IFC’s defense boils down to this: ‘We are above the law,’” Rick Herz, the litigation coordinator for the human rights and environmental advocacy group EarthRights

WB to help 1.1m Bangladeshi villagers to access energy

The World Bank has signed a $15 million grant agreement with Bangladesh to increase access to clean energy for targeted rural areas through output-based aid (OBA) subsidies. The grant is expected to benefit 1.1 million people living in poor, remote areas of Bangladesh currently lacking electricity from the power grid, a statement from the bank said on Saturday. The project will make clean energy affordable to low-income households without using the grid by bringing down the cost of 225,000 solar home systems and 2,500 mini-grid connections. wbThe grant will f...

Bangladesh now a lower middle income country

Bangladesh yesterday graduated from the low income status to lower middle income nation (LMIC), meeting the World Bank’s requirements comfortably. This will be seen as a giant leap forward for the country to become a middle income nation after being bracketed as a low income country for decades. The promotion came on the back of the country’s stride towards higher per capita income in recent years, riding on stable economic growth. A playful child on a rickshaw. Dhaka, Bangladesh. May 16, 2007. (photo)The WB used last year’s data to determine this year’s ...