ADB:
Asian Development
Bank
BTC:
Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline in the Caspian region
EBRD:
European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development
ECA:
Export Credit
Agency
EIB:
European Investment
Bank
EIR:
Extractive
Industries Review
FoEI:
Friends of the
Earth International
IDB:
Inter-American
Development Bank
IFC:
International
Finance Corporation
IFI:
International
Financial Institution
IMF:
International
Monetary Fund
MDB:
Multilateral
Development Bank
MIGA:
Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency
OED:
Operations
Evaluations Department
TNC:
Transnational
Corporation
WBG:
World Bank Group
about international financial
institutions
International Financial Institutions can
be divided into two categories:
Multilateral Development Banks and Export
Credit Agencies.
multilateral development
banks
Most of the Multilateral Development
Banks (MDBs) are governed by the world's
rich countries. They have pressured
governments across Latin America , Asia ,
Africa , and Central and Eastern Europe to
follow an outdated, neoliberal, export-led
development model that stresses
liberalization, deregulation and
privatization. Under the stated aim to
‘alleviate' or ‘fight' poverty, these
policies have led to the displacement of
entire communities, grave environmental
damage, massive job losses, violations of
indigenous peoples' rights, increased
corruption and climate change. In addition,
the projects and programs supported by the
MDBs have increased recipient countries'
already heavy external debt burdens. MDBs
are headed by a Board of Governors,
composed of representatives from each
member country government, generally the
national Minister of Finance. However, much
power is delegated to the Board of
Executive Directors, which approves
policies, loans, interest rates and the
budget.
ADB:
Asian Development
Bank. Established: 1966. Main decision
makers: United States (13%), Japan (13%),
Australia (5%), China (5%). Annual lending:
US$5.3 billion (2001). More informationon
this website and
www.bicusa.org
,
www.adb.org
EBRD:
European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development.
Established: 1991. Main decision makers: US
(10%), France, Germany , Italy , Japan , UK
(all almost 9%). Annual lending: 3.8
billion Euro (2002). More information:
www.bankwatch.org
,
www.bicusa.org
,
www.ebrd.com
EIB:
European
Investment Bank. Established: 1958 . Main
decision makers: France , Germany , Italy ,
United Kingdom . Annual lending: 38 billion
Euro (2002). More information on this
website and
www.bankwatch.org
,
www.eib.org
IDB:
Inter-American
Development Bank. Established: 1959. Main
decision makers: United States (30%), Japan
(5%), Canada (4%), LAC (50%). Annual
lending: US$9 billion (2002). More
information:omn this webssite and
www.allianzafrentebid.org,
www.bicusa.org
,
www.iadb.org
WBG:
World Bank Group.
Public sector arms: International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and
International Development Association
(IDA). Private sector arms: International
Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
International Centre for Settlement of
Investment Disputes (ICSID) Established:
1944. Main decision makers: United States
(16%), Japan (8%), Germany (5%), UK (4%),
France (4%). Annual lending: US$30 billion.
More information: on this website and
www.brettonwoodsproject.org
,
www.bankwatch.org
,
www.50years.org
,
www.aseed.net
,
www.whirledbank.org
,
www.worldbunk.org
,
www.worldbank.org
export credit
agencies
Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) are quite
different creatures. They are
industrialized nation's bilateral agencies,
and thus tend to favor their own national
interests even more than the MDBs. The ECAs
provide government-backed loans, guarantees
and insurance to multinational corporations
from their home country that seek to do
business overseas, often in the global
South. In many cases, southern governments
are required to sign a counter guarantee.
This means that if a project fails,
southern governments have to pay, thus
creating more official debt for these
countries. This is the way some of the
riskiest projects in the world are
financed. Because of the inherent risks of
controversial projects in the mining, oil
and gas and other sectors, many projects in
the developing world could not go forth
without the support of bilateral ECAs. As a
result, ECA-backed projects often damage
the environment and disrupt the lives of
people in the affected regions. ECAs
collectively lend more than any other IFI.
The most important ECAs:
COFACE:
Compagnie
Française pour l'Assurance du Commerce
Extérieur (France)
ECGD:
Export Credit
Guarantee Department (United Kingdom)
EDC:
Export Development
Corporation ( Canada )
EFIC:
Export Finance
Investment Corporation ( Australia )
Export-Import Bank
(
United States )
Hermes:
( Germany )
JBIC:
Japanese Bank for
International Corporation
OPIC:
Overseas Private
Investment Corporation ( United States
)
SACE:
Sezione Speciale
Per l'Assicurazione Del Credito
All'Esportazione ( Italy )
More information: on this website and
www.eca-watch.org
