A recent report from the organisation Oxfam has revealed that the bureaucrats running the Washington D.C.-based World Bank have lost track of as much as $41 billion that was supposed to go to so-called climate action. Oxfam is a UK-based humanitarian organisation that works internationally to reduce poverty and injustice. A review of the bank’s accounts between 2017 and 2023 shows that around $24bn and $41bn have simply disappeared and cannot be accounted for.
According to Oxfam, there is no clear, public record of where all the money was spent or where it went, making any assessment of impact and consequences impossible. It is also unclear whether these funds were spent at all on climate-related initiatives intended to help poor countries protect themselves from the effects of the alleged climate crisis and invest in clean energy. This, of course, only lends further support to those who argue that climate policy is really just a giant corruption generator – as if the aid sector didn’t have enough corruption problems already.
The loss could be much greater
According to a World Bank insider who spoke anonymously to Oxfam, however, the figure for the missing money could be two or ten times more.
According to the inside source, the accounting figures are routinely based on pure fiction, and no one really has a clue who is spending what. The findings come after the Biden administration recently decided to increase the bank’s lending by USD 150 billion over the next 10 years.
The World Bank is an umbrella term for five international organisations that provide financial assistance and advice to promote economic development and help reduce poverty in so-called developing countries. The bank is part of the UN system, but is owned by the countries that have contributed capital. Commenting on the revelations, Nile Gardiner, the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, told the New York Post on 23 October:
– This is an outrageous waste of American taxpayers’ money on a useless and woke political cause. It is an insult to the American people. The World Bank and all international institutions must be held fully accountable. Wasting normal amounts of money on left-wing, progressive causes is fundamentally against America’s national interests.
Oxfam states that the US, which is the World Bank’s largest shareholder, likely lost nearly $4bn, as it has a 16% stake in the bank. You can read the report here. Norway has also lost huge sums: In 2023 alone, the World Bank received 54 per cent of Norwegian aid, which is equivalent to NOK 31.7 billion, or around USD 2.9 billion. World Bank employees also enjoy tax-free salaries and free healthcare for life, with senior staff earning as much as $511,000 annually.
Although little Norway is one of the major owners of the World Bank through Norwegian taxpayers’ money, we cannot find any political uproar or plans to freeze funds to the World Bank. Nor have Norwegian mainstream media found it particularly interesting to inform the public about the scandal.
The question hour in the Norwegian Parliament would be a good place to start the fight against aid corruption.