Print preview Close

Showing 3351-3400 of 4667 results

Records of the Office of the Chief Economist

364 results with digital objects Show results with digital objects

Files Relating to ERS Reviews of Documents Disscussed in Meetings of the Loan Committee, the Operations Policy Subcommittee, and the Operations Policy Committee

This series contains five sets of files that the Economics and Research Staff (ERS) compiled while reviewing proposals and developing the ERS position on proposals (for loans, credits, Country Policy Papers, Country Strategy Papers, and Policy Framework Papers) that were considered primarily by the Loan Committee but also by the Operations Policy Subcommittee (OPSC) and, beginning in September 1986, by the Operations Policy Committee (OPC).

  1. The bulk of the series (1.5 linear feet) contains country files, dated 1985 to 1987 and arranged alphabetically by client country and thereunder chronologically. The file for a particular country contains, at a minimum, the agenda and/or minutes of the committee meeting at which a proposal was discussed. The minutes include a summary of the proposal but not the complete text. Other documents in a typical file include intra-ERS memoranda analyzing a proposal and containing recommendations regarding the position ERS should support; a briefing note summarizing the ERS position; an ERS staff member's report on the meeting, providing information to supplement the official minutes; memoranda from the ERS staff to Regional or sector staff clarifying the position ERS took on the proposal in the committee meeting; other correspondence between ERS and Regional staff; and some Back-to-Office Reports from ERS staff who took part in negotiations with the client country. Filed under Rwanda/SAVEMS is a small collection of statistical tables (titled Selected Analytical Variables for Economists and Managers), 1985 - 1987, arranged by client country that the Country Analysis and Projections Division (EPDCO) of ERS generated on 28 countries.

Filed at the end of the series are four small collections of files. Many of the items in these files are duplicated the country files.

  1. A set of files concerning Country Policy Papers (CPPs), arranged alphabetically by client country and dated February 1984 - January 1987. For Bolivia and Jamaica, the files refer to Divisional Country Briefs (DCBs) rather than CPPs. The file for a particular country typically includes an agenda for the Operations Policy Subcommittee (OPSC) or Operations Policy Committee (OPC) with comments on major policy issues in the CPP that were identified by the Country Policy Department (CPD) and the Planning and Budget Department (PBD); a Postscript of the OPSC or OPC meeting at which the CPP was discussed; and a memorandum forwarding the CPP to the Managing Committee of which the Vice President of ERS was a member. In most cases, the complete CPP is not in the file, but most files do include intra-office memoranda and briefing notes from ERS staff.

  2. A set of minutes of the Operations Policy Subcommittee and, beginning in November 1986, of the Operations Policy Committee, arranged chronologically and dated September 1986 - April 1987. The meetings were held to discuss Policy Framework Papers (PFPs) and most are Structural Adjustment Facility PFPs. Attached to the minutes are summaries of the PFP provided by the Director of the Country Policy Division, but complete PFPs are not found in the files.

  3. Agenda and Minutes of Loan Committee meetings arranged by Region and dated September 1984 - May 1987. Included with the agenda are summaries of the proposed loan or credit provided by the Director of the Country Policy Department.

  4. Agenda and Minutes of Loan Committee meetings and Operations Policy Committee meetings, arranged alphabetically by country and dated April 1985 - April 1987. The OPC meetings dealt with Structural Adjustment Facility Policy Framework Papers, Country Policy Papers, and Divisional Country Briefs. This file also includes briefing notes stating the ERS position on a proposal and post-meeting notes from ERS staff supplementing the official minutes.

Files Regarding the Publication and Dissemination of Research Products

The files in this series contain correspondence, reports, and other records establishing policies and procedures for the publication and dissemination of World Bank research products. The files were maintained successively by the Development Policy Staff (DPS), the Economics and Research Staff (ERS: primarily by Research Administrator Deepak Lal and Policy Advisor Dennis N. de Tray), and finally by Research Administrator de Tray in the Policy, Planning, and Research Staff.

Subjects covered include: the establishment and funding of the Bank Research Documentation Center (BRDC) as the primary depository of research documentation on projects funded by the World Bank Research Program, 1980 - 1984; the selection of topics for the next several editions of the World Development Report, 1985 - 1988; the costs of producing the Bank's main periodicals on research, 1986; and general discussions of the types of publications best suited for the dissemination of information about the research program. Specific documentsin the files include: copies of key documents (Terms of Reference; agenda and minutes of meetings), 1985 - 1987, for the Comparative Studies Coordination Committee and its successor, the Research Coordination Committee; the July 1984 draft of the report of the Committee on Economy-wide Modeling in the Bank (filed under Model Review Committee); a copy of Bela Balassa's August 1987 Report on World Bank Research and the voluminous comments from Bank staff on that report (filed under Review of Bank's ResearchProgram); briefing papers used in an ERS presentation by ERSVP Anne Kruger to the Executive Directors, December 1986; correspondence and intra-DPS and ERS memoranda outlining policies concerning the publication of products of the Bank's staff (filed under Publication Policies); and a copy of the October 1984 preliminary report of the Subcommittee of BRAG [Bank Research Advisory Group] on dissemination of the Bank's research output (filed under Research Dissemination).

Files of the Director, Development Policy, Regarding the Development Committee and Related Committees

These records were compiled by the Director of Development Policy in the Office of the Vice President of Development Policy. That position was held by Ernest Stern from April 1974 to September 1975, Attila Karaosmanoglu from October 1975 to June 1979, and E. Bevan Waide from June 1979 to 1982.

The Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the Bank and the Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries, better known as the Development Committee, was established in 1974 to advise the Boards on development issues and to coordinate international efforts to finance development. The Interim Committee of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary System, known since 1999 as the International Monetary and Finance Committee, was established by the International Monetary Fund in 1974 to advise the Board on the management of the international monetary system. The Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs, now officially the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development, was established in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues to ensure that their interests were adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters. The chairman of the Group of Twenty-Four customarily addresses Development Committee meetings, and the Development Committee, the Interim Committee, and the Group of 24 normally meet at the same times during the year.

The series consists of four groups of records:

    1. A general chronological file, 1977 - 1982, contains: a) correspondence between the Director, Development Policy and the Executive Secretary of the Development Committee, the Bank's liaison (Ernest Stern, Vice President of Operations) with the Development Committee, and other Bank managers, including President McNamara; b) copies of draft and final versions of Development Committee documents (agenda, press communiqu?s, reviews of Development Committeeperformance, annual reports, and work programs) forwarded to the Director of Development Policy or to the Executive Directors of IBRD.
    1. Chronological files on meetings of the Development Committee, 1977 - 1980, contain agenda of meetings, copies of Development Committee documents to be discussed at the meetings, copies of President McNamara's statements delivered at Development Committee meetings, and memoranda from the Director, Development Policy or the Bank's liaison with the Development Committeesummarizing meetings. These files include some agenda for and documents considered at meetings of the Working Group on Development Finance and Policy, the Working Group on Access to Capital Markets, the Group of Twenty-four, and the Senior Officials of the Development Committee.
    1. Files on committees and working groups generally contain agendas with copies of the documents to be discussed at the meeting attached, intra-Bank memoranda regarding the committee or working group, and reports and papers prepared by the committee, working group, or task force. Included are records for the Capital Markets Coordinating Committee, 1972 - 1977; the Working Group on Capital Market Access, 1975 - 1978; the Working Group on Development Finance and Policy, 1978; the Senior Officials' Meeting, September 1978; the Task Force on Private Foreign Investment, 1979 - 1981; the Task Force on Non-Concessional Flows, 1980-1981; the Group of Twenty-Four, 1978-1981; and the Interim Committee of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary System , 1978, 1980 - 1981.
    1. Files related to Development Committee studies and reports include: correspondence, papers, and a report regarding cofinancing, 1978 -1980; a Bank study of aid groups sponsored by IBRD, 1978; a report on the implementations of the Special Action Program, 1978; the Joint Fund/Bank staff study on The Stabilization of Export Earnings, done at the invitation of the Development Committee and submitted to the Committee in 1978; and reviews of Development Committee performance, 1976 and1978.

Files Maintained by Vinod Dubey, Director, Economic advisory Staff, while Also Serving as the First Liaison Officer to the Paris Club

Much of the correspondence at the beginning of the series concerns Bank efforts to play a greater role in the Paris Club's rescheduling of debts, including admission to informal meetings with credit participants.The appointment of Vinod Dubey as liaison officer was a response to the Paris Club's need, in return, for a central contact point in the Bank. The Paris Club refers to meetings held since 1956 that have arranged, when necessary, for the renegotiation of debt owed to official creditors or guaranteed to them. Neither the World Bank nor the IMF are members of the Paris Club, but the IMF has played an important role in developing debt restructure packages with commercial Banks. both the Paris Club and the commercial Banks require deBTOr countries to have agreed on a stabilization program with the IMF as part of the renegotiation process.

Copies of Senior Vice President, Operations Ernest Stern's letter of October 10, 1984 to Philippe Jurgensen, Chairman of the Paris Club, announcing Dubey's appointment as the Bank's liaison officer to the Paris Club regarding all matters affecting specific country negotiations and Stern's November 1, 1984 memo to Operational Vice Presidents on the same subject are in the files. Dubey was serving as Senior Advisor, Country Policy Department at the time of his appointment.

Following his appointment, Dubey continued to receive copies of correspondence forwarded to him concerning the need to increase the Bank's role at Paris Club meetings. Copies of correspondence between Stern and Jurgensen regarding a misunderstanding of the Bank's view of the Paris Club and the Bank's request to provide presentations to the Club on medium-term prospects of some indebted countries are in the files along with other correspondence between Dubey and Vice President, Operations Policy S. Shaid Husain regarding scheduling of these presentations. The files include copies of Dubey's correspondence with Bank regional officials concerning preparations for meetings, drafts of statements and speeches forwarded to Dubey for review before the meetings, background materials concerning countries seeking debt rescheduling, meeting invitations, Dubey's responses to the invitations which list the Bank's delegations to the meetings, back-to Office Reports prepared by Dubey and others representing the Bank at the meetings, and copies of press communiques regarding meetings.

A proof of a lengthy article entitled The Paris Club, 1978-1983 scheduled to appear in the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law is inthe files. A 30 October 1984 note found in the files indicates that the author, Alexis Rieffel, formerly the representative of the U.S. Treasury Department to the Paris Club, was brought to Dubey's attention by Alexander Shakow, Director, International Relations Department (IRDD). A report of a 26 November 1984 meeting of the Coordinating Group of Creditor Countries for Yougoslavia prepared by Dubey and Joseph Ingram, Senior Loan Officer, Country Programs Department was placed in the files along with memos from Ingram regarding Yugoslavia sent to Dubey after the meeting.

Dubey was succeeded as liaison by basil Kavalsky, Assistant Director, Country Policy Department in January 1986 after Dubey was designated Director of that department. Only a small amount of correspondence after that date is in the files and there is no correspondence for 1987.

Also contained in this series are correspondence, memoranda, background papers, reports, handwritten notes, feedback on reports, meeting agendas and summaries, and other materials related to Vinod Dubey's participation in the World Bank's Debt Task Force. The Debt Task Force first met on July 6th, 1987 and was led by Jean Baneth. The Task Force was to re-examine the debt problems of middle-income countries. It was to provide an interim report, undertake country analyses and projections, and examine possible modalities of debt relief schemes and the role the World Bank would play in those schemes. Records date from July 8 to September 22 of 1987.

Files Maintained by Vinod Dubey and Enzo Grilli, Directors, Economic Advisory Staff, Related to Collaboration between the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund

The bulk of the series consists of Policy Framework Papers (PFP) and related records documenting Bank/Fund collaboration in connection with the Fund's Structural Adjustment Facility (SAF), and the later Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) from April 1986 to September 1991. These files are arranged in three segments. The first two segments are arranged alphabetically by client country and maintained primarily by Vinod Dubey when he was Director of the Country Policy Department (CPD) and Directorof the Economic Advisory Staff (EAS). The third segment focuses on Bank-Fund collaboration in reviewing the PFP process and the SAF program, and development of the ESAF program. The country files may include comments on a draft PFP from Regional staff, the Economics and Research Staff, and the Senior Vice President for Operations (SVPOP); minutes of meetings of the Operations Policy Subcommittee and the Operations Policy Committee at which the PFP was discussed; and summaries of discussions and agenda and minutes of meetings of the Committee of the Whole at which a PFP was discussed.

Additional PFP related records include program review and development records maintained by Enzo Grilli when he was Director of EAS. The records include: IMF papers submitted to the Executive Board related to PFP extensions and PFP modifications; IMF proposal papers related to ESAF operational and financial arrangements, legal documentation, and access and monitoring procedures; SAF/ESAF review papers submitted to the IMF Executive Board; and IMF Executive Board meeting minutes related to SAF/ESAF review. The records also consist of materials related to the IMF/Bank Working Group on PFP Issues and the Bank/IMF Seminar with Donors on PFPs. The records include Working Group meeting minutes and summary reports, and papers prepared by both IMF and Bank staff for the PFP Seminar. Lastly, records related to PFP procedures and practices, and country schedules for PFPs are also included.

The series also consists of background correspondence concerning the compilation of three reports on Bank/Fund collaboration between 1984 and 1990. The initial report was issued in February 1985; the second report was issued in May 1986 to document progress on Bank/Fund collaboration during the previous year. A third report was issued in July 1990. Final copies of reports are in the files. Records related to the Bank/Fund collaboration report include: President's Memoranda sent to the Bank's Executive Board of Directors; Executive Directors meeting minutes and notes; and meeting minutes held between Senior Vice President of Operations (OPNSV) Moeen Qureshi, and Senior Staff of IMF regarding the report. Vinod Dubey in the Country Policy Department (CPD) had responsibility for coordinating the Bank's input; C. David Finch was the IMF contact. This responsibility continued with Dubey and Grilli in EAS.

The series also includes records dealing with Bank/Fund collaboration from February 1972 to February 1984. The records come from Development Policy Staff (DPS) units from the Development Policy Vice Presidency (VPD), the Economics and Research Staff (ERS), and from Vinod Dubey while he was the Chief Economist in EMENA. The records are primarily intra-Bank memoranda and reports.

The series also consists of copies of Bank-wide records outlining Bank/Fund collaboration from 1966 and 1970 to 1979. The records were compiled by the Program Review Division (PRD) of the Policy Planning and Program Review Department (PPR) of the VPD, and includes intra-Bank memoranda, joint Bank/Fund memoranda, PPR and PRD memoranda, notes regarding the meetings of the Bank/Fund Working Group, which first met April 3, 1974, and published articles regarding the Bank/Fund relationship.

The series also includes records related to Bank-Fund collaboration on arrears for member countries, or overdue debt obligations to the Bank and IMF from 1988 to 1991. The records include: approach papers and reports produced by the IMF countries in arrears; IMF Executive Board meeting minutes regardingarrears; Joint Audit Committee (JAC) meeting minutes regarding joint IMF/Bank review of countries in arrears, and debt relief strategies for arrears; records related to preparation of collectability papers for countries in arrears; and incoming and outgoing correspondence records for EAS Directors Vinod Dubey and Enzo Grilli, Senior Vice President of Operations (OPNSV) Moeen Qureshi, Senior Vice President of Finance (FINSV) Ernest Stern, and Bank President Barber Conable regarding arrears. Country files are also maintained and include memoranda and correspondence focused on the following topics: arrears clearance, arrears country strategies and reviews, approach papers, and issue papers prepared for individual arrears member countries.

The series also consists of records related to EAS involvement in IMF/Bank collaboration on joint IMF/Bank papers, press releases, and publications for the years 1988 to 1991. The records include numerous draft papers with attached EAS comments related to economic policy topics, such as debt, export credits, or balance of payments (BOPs). EAS comments on drafted IMF press releases and joint IMF/Bank communiques for the IMF/Bank Annual Meetings and Interim Committee are also included.

Files Maintained by Fred D. Levy, Senior Adviser, Economic Advisory Staff on the Berne Union

These files were maintained by Fred D. Levy, Senior Adviser, Economic Advisory Staff (EAS) while representing the Bank as an observer to the Berne Union and coordinating meetings of Berne Union representatives at the Bank. The International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers (Berne Union) was formed in 1934 with members from France, Italy, Spain the United Kingdom. By 1988 the number of members had increased to over 30. Its purpose was to foster international acceptance of sound principles of export credit insurance; to establish and maintain discipline in terms of credit for international trade; to maintain sound principles of foreign investment insurance; to encourage a favorable investment climate; and to exchange information, assistance, expertise, and advice in relation to the commercial and political risks associated with export credit and investment insurance.

  • At the beginning of the series are memoranda, telex messages, draft and final schedules of country reviews, and Levy's detailed handwritten notes taken at meetings between the Bank and representatives of the Berne Union [International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers] visiting with the Bank and the IMF, respectively, on November 2 and 3, 1987. These are followed by files containing Levy's reports to Moeen Quereshi, Senior Vice President, Operations of Berne Union Annual General Meetings and meetings of the Berne Union Export Credit Insurance Committee and Investment Insurance Committee from 1988 to 1990 at which he represented the Bank as an observer. The extensive reports cover discussions of countries under review at those meetings and are filed with Levy's handwritten notes taken during the meetings.

The files containing Levy's 1988-1990 Berne Union meeting reports also include draft and printed meeting agendas and lists of participants, copies of papers discussed at the meetings, and copies of formal meeting minutes provided by the Berne Union Secretariat. A file titled Berne Union Meeting briefing book contains handwritten notes arranged by country that appear to have been prepared by Levy in 1989 during briefings given by Regional Office staff. The name of the staff member giving the country briefing and the date are usually included in the notes. Printed statistical information, Country briefs, and correspondence are included for some countries.

Also part of the series is a Back-to-Office Report prepared for the files by Vinod Dubey, Director, EAS of a meeting of the Export Credit Group of OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] in Paris on June 13, 1989 at which he participated in a discussion of Export Credit cover for countries with payment difficulties. Copies of meeting papers and a list of meeting participants accompany the report. A copy of the report to the Director, EAS, of the 1987 Annual General Meeting of Berne Union prepared by Jeffrey Katz, Resource Mobilization Department (FRM), who represented the Bank as an observer, is also in the series.

Files Documenting the Review Process for Country Program Papers, Country Strategy Papers, and Country Assistance Strategies in the Development Policy Group (DPG)

This series contains files documenting the drafting and review of Country Program Papers (CPPs), Country Strategy Papers (CSPs), Country Assistance Strategies (CASs) and several Country Strategy Notes (CSNs) and Country Economic Memoranda (CEMs). These files were maintained by the Development Policy Group (DPG) and by its predecessor, the Economic Advisory Staff (EAS). Both units were responsible for shepherding CSPs etc. through the review process.

The small number of items dated prior to the 1987 Reorganization and the establishment of EAS are primarily only copies of Country Program Papers, Special Country Program Papers (SCPPs), or Country Program Notes (CPN) and copies of Postscripts of Operations Policy Subcommittee reviews of CPPs; there are very few memoranda discussing drafts or commenting on the CPP/CPN content. The document copies were forwarded to the Vice President for Development Policy (VPD) and to units within VPD: the Policy Planning and Program Review Department (DPP) and the Program Review Division (PPPR); to the Economics and Research Staff (ERS); and to the Country Policy Department (CPD) in the Operations Policy Complex (OPS).

The more complete files in this series cover the period from 1987 to 1994 and contain records documenting the entire CSP/CAS drafting and review process and the input of EAS/DEC staff into that review process: a draft Initiating Memorandum (IM) or brief prepared by Regional staff and comments on the draft IM from units throughout the Bank; a summary of the meeting in which the draft IM was discussed; a working level draft CSP developed by Regional staff and comments on the draft and minutes of the review meeting at which the draft was discussed; the agenda and minutes of the Regional VP (Loan Committee) review meeting; a revised draft CSP incorporating changes agreed upon in the Regional VP review; the Operations Committee review draft of the CSP with comments on the draft from Regional staff and staff in EAS/DPG/DECVP; an agenda with background information prepared by EAS for the Operations Committee (OC) meeting to discuss the draft CSP; comments forwarded to EAS/DPG on the draft Operation Committee minutes and on the draft CSP; an Operations Committee Postscript written by EAS to incorporate decisions made in the OC meeting and comments received from all units following the OC meeting; the President's Review draft of the CSP or CAS and related comments from Bank units; minutes of President's Review meeting; the President's comments on the CSP following the President's Review meeting; handwritten notes taken by EAS/DPG staff and by the Chief Economist (DECVP) at the various review meetings; news notices and magazine articles (primarily from The Economist, Financial Times, and Far Eastern Economic Review) regarding the country that was the subject of the CSP; internal EAS, DPG, and DECVP memoranda discussing the various drafts and/or commenting on the various review meetings; comments on the CSP/CAS from staff within DEC units, especially the Policy Research Department (PRD), the Research Advisory Staff (RAD), and the International Economics Department (IEC); and correspondence between EAS/DPG staff and Regional staff during the entire drafting and review process. In some cases, the DPG representative who attended the Regional Loan Committee meeting wrote his own post-meeting review to the files. The file on South Africa is an aberration; it contain nothing but news updates on the political situation in South Africa from 1992 to 1994 and one summary of discussionsof the situation in South Africa at a December 9, 1993, meeting of the Executive Directors.

Fact Sheet, Press Release, and Other Materials Concerning the Publication of the 1996 World Debt Table Maintained by the Debt and International Finance Division (IECDF)

This series documents media coverage of the March 1996 release of the sixteenth edition of the World Debt Tables. Included are: copies of the Bank's press release and fact sheet; a transcript of remarks Michael Bruno, Chief Economist, Nawal Kamel, Chief of the Debt and International Finance Division (IECDF), and Masood Ahmed, Director of the International Economics Department, delivered at the National Press Club on March 11; copies of news clippings; and a list of questions and answers relating to the report.

Results 3351 to 3400 of 4667