World Bank Group Releases Payment Disclosures by Companies, but Reports Lack Clarity and Consistency

This summer the International Financial Coporation posted payment figures online for some, though not all, of its extractive industry clients. The IFC is the private sector arm of the World Bank, offering guidance to investors as well as co-financing for projects.

The new client requirement is a welcome step to improve openness in IFC projects, but a new report by the Bank Information Center shows that this process still needs consistent and comprehensive enforcement. The BIC review highlights examples of uneven disclosures across extractive projects, as well as instances where IFC requirements are not enforced at all, in contradiction of the newest policies.

Additionally, though IFC extractive industry clients must publish their payments to governments, BIC reports a lack of uniformity in the disclosures. According to the review, "some companies give detailed information, including broken-down tax information, which is relevant for our legislative work (showing it is possible to disclose this disaggregated information without ramification)," but the types of data reported varied greatly.

As of mid-August, information was not yet available for three out of nine applicable projects, and one project reported using from 2006, instead of 2007.

View the report from the IFC and the World Bank Group: IFC Extractive Industry Clients Government Payment Disclosure

Learn more from the Bank Information Center ...