GTI Global Transparency Initiative

GTI Activities

FOI requests

The GTI, led by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), launched a series of coordinated freedom of information (FOI) requests in Argentina, Bulgaria, Mexico, Slovakia and South Africa in 2005, which were tracked over a set period of time. A total of 120 requests were submitted by nine participating organisations to different IFIs and government implementing agencies in their regions. The requests were for two main categories of information: documents regarding institutional and policy decisions and documents related to specific projects in the five countries. Examples of the former include summaries of Board Meetings and discussions of Country Assistance Strategies. Examples of the latter include loan contracts and Environmental Impact Assessments.

The IFIs which received requests were the: African Development Bank; Andean Development Corporation; European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; European Investment Bank; Inter-American Development Bank; International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.

Relevant national bodies expected to hold the documents requested from IFIs also received the same requests.

The findings of the study are contained in a publication entitled Behind Closed Doors: Secrecy in International Financial Institutions launched in September 2006. Overall, only twenty-two per cent of information requests resulted in full disclosure. Eight percent of the requests resulted in incomplete disclosure. Broken down by country, six requests in Argentina, fourteen in Bulgaria, five in Mexico, eleven in Slovakia and seven in South Africa resulted in disclosure of different degrees.

The results showed:

A generally high level of opacity surrounding the disclosure of information related to IFIs;

Incidences of low quality of information disclosure (with cases of incomplete information being provided with minimal detail), delays and other practical obstacles to disclosure;

A lack of responsiveness in dealing with requesters and a poor commitment to promoting the right to know, with a substantial proportion of requests simply being ignored;

Inconsistencies in the interpretation and application of disclosure policies resulting in different outcomes for the same requests in different countries;

Inadequate communication and information sharing between IFIs and borrowing governments and centralisation of decision-making regarding information disclosure in the IFI headquarters;

Freedom of Information Acts (FOIAs) provide an alternative avenue for access to IFI information but domestic implementation challenges persist and strict internal procedures are necessary;

Bulgaria had the highest success rate in getting information but Slovakia produced standard-setting practices in FOIA implementation. Performance was generally poor in Argentina, Mexico and South Africa;

The World Bank emerged as the most responsive IFI and corrective measures have been embraced by the Inter American Development Bank (IADB) office in Argentina and public bodies to improve transparency and accountability following the results of this study.

9th October 2006

Related resources

Assessing World Bank Openness: A Transparency Scorecard
Published 7th January 2007 by Bank Information Center
Behind Closed Doors: Secrecy in International Financial Institutions
Published 9th October 2006 by IDASA