International Bank for Reconstruction and Development The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is an international financial institution that offers loans to middle-income developing countries. The IBRD is the first of five member institutions that compose the World Bank Group, and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It was established in 1944 with the mission of financing the reconstruction of European nations devastated by World War II. The IBRD is owned and governed by its member states, but has its own executive leadership and staff which conduct its normal business operations. History[edit] The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) were established by delegates at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 and became operational in 1946.[4] The IBRD was established with the original mission of financing the reconstruction efforts of war-torn European nations following World War II, with goals shared by the later Marshall Plan.
Looking for a place to invest? - PSD Blog - The World Bank Group Sri Lanka conjures up different images in the minds of different people: lush green tropical canopies, steaming cups of aromatic tea, and hardworking fishermen in their dinghy boats. For me, the country also packs enormous promise for growth and development. There is not the slightest doubt that Sri Lanka will have to come clean and deal with the aftermath of its prolonged civil war. However, at a fundamental level, there is a sense of hunger in its people to rebuild their lives and their country. Sri Lanka already holds a strong position in certain agricultural and industrial exports, like tea or uncut diamonds. I recently spoke at an event organized by the country’s top business newspaper, the Daily Financial Times, in partnership with the well-regarded Colombo University MBA Alumni Association. The euphoria leading up to the event was palpable.
Time Machine ISS TRANSIT OF VENUS: High above Earth, astronaut Don Pettit is about to become the first human to witness and photograph a transit of Venus from space. His images and commentary will be streamed to Earth during the crossing. [full story] [video] VENUS PASSES MERCURY, APPROACHES THE SUN: Venus is approaching the sun in advance of the June 5th Transit of Venus. From here on Earth, the second planet has become difficult to see wrapped in bright sunlight. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, however, has no such trouble. A 24-hour movie shows that Mercury is exiting stage left as Venus plunges deeper into sunlight. Amateur astronomers who manage to locate Venus in broad daylight will find that the planet has turned into a delightfully slender crescent. The crescent could soon become a ring. Keep an eye on SpaceWeather's realtime photo gallery to see how Venus shape-shifts in the days ahead: On June 2, 2012 there were 1293 potentially hazardous asteroids.
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., of "188 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world."[1] Formed in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference, it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international payment system. Functions[edit] According to the IMF itself, it works to foster global growth and economic stability by providing policy, advice and financing to members, by working with developing nations to help them achieve macroeconomic stability and reduce poverty.[8] The rationale for this is that private international capital markets function imperfectly and many countries have limited access to financial markets. The IMF's role was fundamentally altered by the floating exchange rates post-1971.
International Finance Corporation (IFC) Home Before I Die What matters most to you Interactive public art project that invites people to share their personal aspirations in public. After losing someone she loved and falling into depression, Chang created this experiment on an abandoned house in her neighborhood to create an anonymous place to help restore perspective and share intimately with her neighbors. The project gained global attention and thanks to passionate people around the world, over 1000 Before I Die walls have now been created in over 70 countries, including Kazakhstan, Iraq, Haiti, China, Ukraine, Portugal, Japan, Denmark, Argentina, and South Africa. 2011, New Orleans, LA. Cordoba, Argentina. Najaf, Iraq. Brooklyn, NY. Almaty, Kazakhstan Savannah, GA. Pohang City, South-Korea. San Francisco, CA. Johannesburg, South Africa. Cordoba, Argentina.
Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution[2] owned by central banks which "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks".[3] The BIS carries out its work through its meetings, programmes and through the Basel Process – hosting international groups pursuing global financial stability and facilitating their interaction. It also provides banking services, but only to central banks and other international organizations. It is based in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City. History[edit] BIS main building in Basel, Switzerland The BIS was established in 1930 by an intergovernmental agreement between Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States, and Switzerland.[4][5] It opened its doors in Basel, Switzerland, on 17 May 1930. The BIS's original task of facilitating World War I reparation payments quickly became obsolete.
Home :: Grameen-Jameel Harry Dexter White American economist and spy (1892–1948) Harry Dexter White (October 29, 1892 – August 16, 1948) was a senior U.S. Treasury department official. Working closely with the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., he helped set American financial policy toward the Allies of World War II. He was later accused of espionage by passing information to the Soviet Union,[1] an allegation which was confirmed after his death. He was a senior American official at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference that established the postwar economic order. White was accused in 1948 of spying for the Soviet Union, which he adamantly denied. Harry Dexter White was born on October 29, 1892, in Boston, Massachusetts, the seventh and youngest child of Jewish Lithuanian immigrants, Jacob Weissnovitz (or Weit) and Sarah Magilewski, who had settled in the US in the 1880s. Treasury Department [edit] Bretton Woods Conference Accusations of espionage Chambers accusations 1939, 1945, 1948 In Spring 1948, Truman aide Stephen J.
Grameen Foundation It is separate from organizations called "Grameen Foundation" in different countries, such as Grameen Foundation Australia.[citation needed] History[edit] The Foundation was founded in 1997 to facilitate the expansion of banks modeled after the Grameen Bank beyond the borders of Bangladesh and increase the access of poor people to microfinance by millions worldwide. Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, sits on the Board of Directors. Current chair of the board is Paul Maritz, CEO of VMWare and formerly a senior executive at Microsoft. Programs[edit] Rather than directly administering microfinance programs, Grameen Foundation provides funds and technical assistance to local and regional microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other poverty-focused organizations. Working with local and global allies, Grameen Foundation also develops and distributes mobile phone-based applications to help the poor to better manage: Trivia[edit] References[edit] Further reading[edit]
East Germany Former communist state, 1949–1990 East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik [ˈdɔʏtʃə demoˈkʁaːtɪʃə ʁepuˈbliːk], DDR), was a state that existed from 1949 to 1990, when the eastern portion of Germany was part of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Commonly described as a communist state in English usage, it described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state."[1] It consisted of territory that was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the end of World War II—the Soviet occupation zone of the Potsdam Agreement, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet zone, while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones. In 1989, numerous social, economic, and political forces in the GDR and abroad led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the establishment of a government committed to liberalisation. Naming conventions[edit] Stasi[edit]
Grameen family of organizations Grameen Bank Complex at Mirpur-2, Dhaka The Grameen family of organizations has grown beyond Grameen Bank into a multi-faceted group of profitable and non-profit ventures, established by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winning founder of Grameen Bank. Most of these organizations have central offices at the Grameen Bank Complex in Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank started to diversify in the late 1980s when it started attending to unutilized or underutilized fishing ponds, as well as irrigation pumps like deep tubewells.[1] In 1989, these diversified interests started growing into separate organizations, as the fisheries project became Grameen Fisheries Foundation and the irrigation project became Grameen Krishi Foundation.[1] Grameen Bank[edit] Grameen Trust[edit] Grameen Trust (GT), a non-profit and non-government organisation established in 1989 uses microcredit as a tool for fighting poverty and follows the Grameen Bank approach for the purpose. Grameen Fund[edit]
Bretton Woods system Financial-economic agreement reached in 1944 The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial relations among 44 countries, including the United States, Canada, Western European countries, and Australia,[1] after the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement until the Jamaica Accords in 1976. The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent states. The Bretton Woods system required countries to guarantee convertibility of their currencies into U.S. dollars to within 1% of fixed parity rates, with the dollar convertible to gold bullion for foreign governments and central banks at US$35 per troy ounce of fine gold (or 0.88867 gram fine gold per dollar). The planners at Bretton Woods hoped to avoid a repetition of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, which had created enough economic and political tension to lead to WWII. Post-war negotiations [edit] ... The U.S. General:
Tanzania: First Women's Bank begins operations The Tanzania Women’s Bank (TWB) was inaugurated on July 28 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This pioneering initiative, the first of its kind in Africa, essentially aims at promoting economic activities undertaken by women. This comes as a relief for African women who, despite their enormous contribution towards economic development, paradoxically, do not always have easy access to banking services for economic reasons. Women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, now have their own bank. Although men are allowed to open an account, the establishment focuses, essentially, on female clientele who are more often than not excluded from the mainstream banking system. To enable women to access these services, the establishment has simplified otherwise onerous administrative procedures. A long-term project Women groups called for the establishment of this type of bank. Th brains behind this banking institution plan to move beyond the Tanzanian boundaries.