WASHINGTON, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Global finance leaders over the weekend warned of continued friction on world markets and backed reform at the IMF, while the head of the World Bank invited China to join him in development work in poor countries.

Finance ministers and central bankers representing the Group of Seven industrialized powers, the International Monetary Fund and the Bank held a three-day parley in the shadow of recent upheavals on financial markets and growing currency imbalances.

WASHINGTON , Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - The financial turmoil that erupted earlier this year in the US subprime housing market was 'an accident waiting to happen' and could have taken place in any other sector, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said here Sunday.

'Credit spreads across all global asset classes had become compressed to clearly unsustainable levels,' Greenspan told an audience at the World Bank's International Finance Corporation.

WASHINGTON, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - World Bank president Robert Zoellick on Sunday invited China to team up with the 185-nation development lender to fight global poverty and said he would visit Beijing in December.

'China is an important partner in the international econony on growth and development issues and I therefore think it is incumbent on the World Bank to treat China as a partner ... (and) also to be in position to work with China in third countries,' Zoellick said at a news conference following a meeting of Bank policymakers.

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - World Bank policymakers meet here Sunday to anchor agriculture at the center of their agenda in a major shift aimed at lifting billions of people out of poverty.

The new Bank president, Robert Zoellick, has pledged to boost the institution's lending to the farm sector after allowing it to decline in 1980s and 1990s.

Zoellick vows the Bank will use an inclusive approach to fight poverty, hunger and disease, and this week unveiled a controversial proposal to allow private-sector business to help finance aid to poor countries.

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - An anti-globalization march in the streets of Washington turned violent, with shop windows smashed as crowds protested on the eve of Saturday's International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings, reports said.

Banner-waving crowds, protesting what they see as harmful policies of the financial bodies, marched peacefully at first late Friday before a disturbance broke out in the up-market neighborhood of Georgetown.

Police came out in force with riot masks and batons and ordered the crowds to disperse.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - An anti-globalization march in the streets of Washington turned violent, with shop windows smashed as crowds protested on the eve of meetings Saturday of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Banner-waving crowds protesting what they see as harmful policies of the financial bodies marched peacefully at first late Friday evening before a disturbance broke out in the up-market neighborhood of Georgetown.

Police came out in force with riot masks and batons and ordered the crowds to disperse.

WASHINGTON, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The new president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, wants to allow private-sector companies to help finance aid to the poorest countries, an innovation already stirring controversy.

The unprecedented outreach already has met with a positive response, Zoellick said here Thursday at a news conference here, without naming the companies.

'This is at an early stage,' Zoellick said in response to a question about a Financial Times interview published Thursday in which he revealed the World Bank's new strategy.

WASHINGTON, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank is in talks with the private sector to broaden its base of of support for helping the world's poor, Bank president Robert Zoellick said Thursday.

The unprecedented outreach already has met with a positive response, Zoellick said at a news conference here, without naming the companies.

'This is at an early stage,' Zoellick said in response to a question about a Financial Times interview published Thursday in which he revealed the World Bank's new strategy.

WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Global finance chiefs gather this week with the impact of US housing and credit woes spreading worldwide, exchange rate tensions rising and new agendas being carved out at the IMF and World Bank.

Meetings of the Group of Seven finance ministers followed by annual gatherings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are being held against a backdrop of slowing global growth, but comments from key leaders suggest there is no reason to panic.

WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - The new heads at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund face the tough task of restoring credibility to the powerful financial bodies which hold an annual summit this month, analysts say.

'Both (Robert) Zoellick and Dominique Strauss-Kahn are certainly competent people. But I don't think it is so easy for them to make change on their own,' said Daniel Bradlow, an international law professor at American University in Washington, where the institutions are based.

WASHINGTON, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - World Bank president Robert Zoellick said Wednesday that globalization must be 'inclusive and sustainable' if it is to help combat crushing poverty around the world.

In a speech at the National Press Club, marking his first 100 days in office, Zoellick said the World Bank should seek to foster such goals while guarding environmental protections.

WASHINGTON, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - World Bank president Robert Zoellick said Wednesday that globalization must be 'inclusive and sustainable' if it is to help combat grinding poverty around the world.

In a speech at the National Press Club, marking his first 100 days in office, Zoellick said the World Bank should seek to foster such goals while guarding environmental protections.

WASHINGTON, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Arab countries have been 'underserved' by his institution and that he wants to develop an initiative to get more involved in the Arab world, according to an interview published in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday.

Zoellick also said that the bank will continue to lend to middle-income countries like China, Brazil and India, despite criticism of the practice, because a large majority of the world's poor live in those countries.

DAKAR, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - Senegal's main donors on Thursday pledged to extend four billion dollars in financial aid to the west African country over a three year period until 2010, the World Bank said.

'Senegal's partners committed themselves to provide 3.945 million dollars in financial assistance between 2007 and 2010,' said a World Bank statement released at the end of a two day meeting in Paris of the donors' advisors.

WARSAW, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - The European Union's 10 ex-communist states, which were hit by massive unemployment after they shifted to a market economy almost two decades ago, are now facing a labour shortage, according to the World Bank.

The EU newcomers need to enact new reforms to boost their workforces, singling out measures to discourage early retirement and to open their labour markets to foreigners, the bank said.

The region has undergone a 'major shift,' said economist Jan Rutkowski, the lead author of the World Bank report released in Warsaw last Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank on Thursday pledged a record 3.5 billion dollars to aid the world's poorest countries as it cut the interest rate on loans to big developing countries.

The roughly quarter-point lowering of loan rates was a concession by the World Bank as it stepped up efforts to get some of its bigger borrowers such as China and Brazil to contribute themselves to poverty-fighting programs around the world.

BEIJING, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - China has become a leader in tearing down barriers to business, but lots of red tape remains, a report from the private investment arm of the World Bank said Wednesday.

The world's fourth-largest economy has been 'a standout in regulatory reform,' the International Finance Corporation (IFC) said in its Doing Business 2008 report.

BEIJING, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - China has become a leader in tearing down barriers to business, a report from an arm of the World Bank said Wednesday.

The world's fourth-largest economy has been 'a standout in regulatory reform,' the International Finance Corporation (IFC) said in its Doing Business 2008 report.

'While there is room for improvement, it is clear that China is making steady progress in improving business conditions for companies including small- and medium-sized enterprises,' Michael Ipson, the IFC's manager for China and Mongolia, told reporters.

WASHINGTON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Singapore once again topped the World Bank's ranks for the best place in the world to do business, and Egypt is the leader in reforms to invite more business, the World Bank said Tuesday.

'For the second year running, Singapore tops the aggregate rankings on the ease of doing business' in 2006-2007, the World Bank said in releasing its 'Doing Business 2008' report.

WASHINGTON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - For the first time in almost a decade the World Bank is set to make meaningful cuts in the interest rates it charges China, Brazil, Mexico and other big developing countries, The Wall Street Journal Europe reports Tuesday.

WASHINGTON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are developing a joint strategy to aid low-income countries that will define their separate roles, a top IMF official said Monday.

John Lipsky, IMF first deputy managing director, said the Fund's role in low-income countries, which has drawn controversy in recent years, will be formalized in a Joint Bank-Fund Management Action Plan that will be unveiled ahead of the two institutions' annual meetings next month.

SOFIA, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - Bulgaria has to dramatically boost productivity growth if it wants to bring incomes and living standards up to European Union averages, the World Bank found in a report published on Monday.

'If productivity in Bulgaria continues to grow at 2.0 percent per year, Bulgaria will never fully converge with the EU-25 gross domestic product per capita,' wrote World Bank economist Satu Kahkonen.

HONG KONG, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - The former president of the World Bank said Friday that rich countries were ill-prepared to deal with the 'tectonic shift' in economic power towards developing nations, in particular to India and China.

James Wolfensohn said rich nations still treated major developing nations with a 'colonial' attitude and had not fully understood the way the power had moved eastward as a result of economic expansion.

GENEVA, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Switzerland on Tuesday said it was ready to work with the United Nations and the World Bank in a new initiative to help recover assets looted by corrupt leaders in foreign bank accounts.

'Switzerland has every interest in making sure that criminal funds do not end up in its financial sector,' the country's foreign ministry said in a statement.

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - The Palestinian economy remains crippled seven years after the outbreak of the intifada and needs 1.62 billion dollars in annual foreign aid to close the deficit, the World Bank said in a report obtained by AFP on Tuesday.

'Per capita GDP (gross domestic product) in the Palestinian territories now stands at 1,129 dollars (814 euros), about a third less than its level in 1999,' according to the report to be presented to an international donor organisation at a meeting later this month in New York.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank and United Nations on Monday threw their backing behind developing nations seeking to recover assets pilfered by corrupt leaders, unveiling a scheme to lend muscle to their claims.

'There should be no safe haven for those who steal from the poor,' World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said, adding the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative was a warning to corrupt leaders 'that they will not escape the law.'

WASHINGTON, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank said Thursday it had approved a 400 million dollar loan for developing a hydropower plant in energy-starved India's northern mountain state of Himachal Pradesh.

The loan was to be provided to state-owned power company, Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVN), for developing the plant on the river Satluj, the Washington-based bank said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank plans to review its anti-corruption unit, whose practices were seen as discretionary and lacking transparency under the tumultuous presidency of Paul Wolfowitz.

An independent panel found in a report released Thursday that 'severe strains' between the Department of Institutional Integrity and other bank departments at times hurt the lender's relations with borrowing countries.

The bank's new president, Robert Zoellick, welcomed the report from the panel of six experts led by former US Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker.

BEIJING, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - China is well placed to deal with a slowdown in the world economy and its conservative investment strategy has helped limit the impact of the US subprime crisis, the World Bank said Wednesday.

Strong fiscal and trade positions will allow China the room to adjust its policies and respond to a slowdown in the world economy despite an unavoidable weakening in Chinese exports, the World Bank said in a report.

BEIJING, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank on Wednesday raised its economic growth forecast for China this year to 11.3 percent, while warning its growing trade surplus and inflation were the main threats to healthy growth.

In its latest quarterly update on China's economy, the World Bank raised its growth projection to 11.3 percent from 10.4 percent forecast three months earlier.

Economic growth next year is expected to slow to below 11 percent, it added.

BEIRUT, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank on Friday granted more than 100 million dollars for economic reforms which Lebanon pledged to introduce at a donor conference in Paris last January.

Finance Minister Jihad Azur signed the agreements on social, energy and financial reforms with Daniela Gressani, a World Bank vice president for the Middle East and North Africa.

WASHINGTON, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank on Wednesday announced an initiative to provide modern lighting to an estimated 250 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who lack access to electricity.

The 'Lighting Africa' program aims to develop new products for lighting powered by renewable or mechanical sources for people not connected to the electricity grid.

'Modern lighting will mean improved air quality and safety for millions of people in Africa,' said S. Vijay Iyer, World Bank energy sector manager for Africa.

WASHINGTON, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank said Tuesday it provided 34.3 billion dollars in loans, grants, equity investments, and guarantees in the fiscal year to June 30, a 7.8 percent increase from the prior year.

Of the total, sub-Saharan Africa received 7.5 billion dollars, an increase of 1.8 billion dollars.

SYDNEY, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - Bribes and hidden trade barriers are costing APEC member states at least 148 billion US dollars in lost economic activity, according to a World Bank report published Monday.

The report, released for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney, said some poorer countries could increase trade by a quarter to 50 percent if they could eliminate bad practice.

At the same time, it added, companies also badly need more transparent and predictable rules to reduce the uncertainty of trading.

FREETOWN, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Prospects are looking bright for Sierra Leone's post-war economic recovery but decisions to be made by a new government coming in after weekend elections will be crucial, the World Bank said Wednesday.

'I think this country has, in many ways, very good prospects,' World Bank country manager for Sierra Leone, Engilbert Gudmundsson, told AFP.

Sierra Leone, ravaged by 10 years of a devastating conflict, last year registered a record seven percent economic growth, spurred mainly by resumed mining exports and agricultural production.

DAKAR, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) - Senegal's budget deficit for 2006 reached almost six percent of its gross domestic product, nearly twice the previous year's figure, the regional office of the World Bank estimated in its monthly review.

To help correct that deficit, the World Bank analysis called on Senegal to resolve the crisis in its energy sector as a matter of urgency.

HANOI, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) - World Bank president Robert Zoellick hail