IFC Archive

  • IFC lends a hand in great “land grab”020 November 2009

    IFC lends a hand in great “land grab”

    As the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, announces plans to increase investment in agribusiness by up to 30 per cent in the next three years, NGO reports shed light on the IFC's role in the 'land grab' movement and flaws in its approach to the food crisis.
  • The great land grab: Rush for world’s farmland threatens food security for the poor08 October 2009

    The great land grab: Rush for world’s farmland threatens food security for the poor

    A new report from the Oakland Institute lays bare the insidious role played by international financial institutions like the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and Foreign Investment Advisory Service, as well as rich nations, in promoting and facilitating this widespread land reappropriation--all in the name of promoting food security through foreign investment in agriculture.
  • Leading experts to speak at Global AgInvesting 2009 conference in New York011 May 2009

    Leading experts to speak at Global AgInvesting 2009 conference in New York

    Aimed at public and private market investors, this conference will explore opportunities for global investments in agricultural lands, commodities and infrastructure in North and South America, Australia, China, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
  • ‘Agrologistics’ at home and abroad03 May 2009

    ‘Agrologistics’ at home and abroad

    Private equity used to stay away from anything to do with agriculture, put off by the uncontrollable risks of bad climate and natural disasters. And yet in the last three years some big funds have been launched in the agribusiness space, and they are busy trying different ways of mitigating the risks.
  • IFC to invest $200 mln in Africa agribusiness09 April 2009

    IFC to invest $200 mln in Africa agribusiness

    The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private sector lending arm, will nearly double its investment in agribusiness in Africa to $200 million during the 2009 fiscal year, a senior official said.
  • 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now: 7. The Rent-A-Country013 March 2009

    10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now: 7. The Rent-A-Country

    Growing crops for strangers, of course, is nothing new. The long, grim march of colonialism was driven by Europe’s penchant for sugar, tea, tobacco and other crops that don’t flourish in northern climes. But as climate change and growing populations put ever more pressure on the earth, state-backed searches for land and food contracts as part of a national food-security strategy strike many as fundamentally new.
  • Saudis plan land investment joint venture with World Bank010 March 2009

    Saudis plan land investment joint venture with World Bank

    The chief of the International Finance Corporation, Lars Thunell, has been holding talks with Saudi finance minister Ibrahim Al-Assa on corporation in areas of joint 'external agricultural investments'.
  • Saudi Arabia, Britain discuss investment prospects010 March 2009

    Saudi Arabia, Britain discuss investment prospects

    Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assa also met the chief of the International Finance Corporation, Lars Thunell, and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between the Kingdom and the IFC in areas of joint external agricultural investments in addition to activating the corporation’s activities in the Kingdom.
  • IFC to invest in new agribusiness fund012 February 2009

    IFC to invest in new agribusiness fund

    The International Financial Corp, the World Bank’s private-sector lender, said on Thursday it will invest $75 million in a new agribusiness fund to increase global food supplies. IFC said it had joined forces with Altima Partners, which manages the $625 million Altima One World Agricultural Fund, to create a fund to invest in farming operations and agricultural land in emerging market countries.