World Bank offers disaster-hit Indonesia $1 bn in loans

Yahoo – AFP, October 14, 2018

The recent quake-tsunami unleashed devastation on the Indonesian island of
Sulawesi, killing thousands (AFP Photo/MOHD RASFAN)

The World Bank on Sunday announced funding of up to $1 billion for Indonesia after it was rocked by a string of recent disasters, including a deadly earthquake-tsunami that killed thousands.

CEO Kristalina Georgieva unveiled the funds at Indonesian holiday island Bali, where the Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been holding their annual meetings.

A 7.5-magnitude quake and a resulting tsunami tore through Palu city on Sulawesi island on September 28, killing more than 2,000 people and leaving thousands more missing, presumed dead.

Rescue teams scoured the wreckage for a fortnight before calling off the search for the dead, acknowledging as many as 5,000 missing people might never be found.

Georgieva said the funds being made available by the Bank in the form of loans could be used for reconstruction but were also intended to help Indonesia build "resilience", so it would be better prepared in the face of future disasters.

"Disasters will continue to hit and with climate change there will be more," said Georgieva, who visited Palu earlier this week.

"The best memorial we can build for the victims of disaster is to build better, so next time when a disaster hits fewer people are affected, fewer lives are lost, and there is less damage."

Nearly 90,000 people were displaced by the quake in Palu, forcing them into evacuation centres across the rubble-strewn city.

Officials said it could be two years before all the homeless are found permanent accommodation.

Aid groups say a dearth of clean drinking water and medical supplies remains a very real concern for 200,000 people in urgent need.

Donations have begun pouring into the coastal city of 350,000 after a slow start which saw Indonesia criticised for stalling the flow of relief supplies.

The shallow 7.5-magnitude tremor was more powerful than a series of quakes this summer that killed more than 550 people on the Indonesian island of Lombok and neighbouring Sumbawa.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes, including a devastating 9.1-magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Sumatra in December 2004, killing 220,000 throughout the region, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati welcomed the pledge.

"This is not one earmark for a certain project, this is something that can be used by the government to support (people) during this uncertain time," she said.

The funding was particularly important in the current economic climate, she said, "with much higher interest rates, tightening of liquidity, (it is) a much harder environment for us to get financing from outside".

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

It lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

Abused Hong Kong maid Erwiana 'rises again'

Yahoo - AFP, Agus Purwanto, 28 September 2018

Erwiana now works on behalf of migrant workers

She was once the face of abused maids in Hong Kong -- imprisoned, starved and beaten so badly she lost control of her bodily functions.

But four years after her horrific ordeal made global headlines, Indonesian Erwiana Sulistyaningsih is a university graduate and fighting for the rights of domestic helpers in the southern Chinese city and beyond.

Erwiana completed a degree in economics this month -- the culmination of a dream that brought her to Hong Kong in 2013 before her life was turned upside down.

"Before I went to Hong Kong, I had been dreaming I could make enough money to study," the 27-year-old told AFP from her home in Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta.

"After the incident, I thought I might have to give up on that dream."

Erwiana's employer Law Wan-tung was jailed after pictures of her extensive injuries went viral in 2014.

Widespread media coverage of Erwiana's torture had one unexpected benefit -- she was offered scholarships to study.

"I'm happy but it's bittersweet because even though I graduated university there are still many migrant workers who are persecuted and treated badly," she said.

She chose economics partly to understand "why so many people in this world have to migrate" for work.

"People should be able to live peacefully in their own country without having to work abroad unprotected," she said.

Erwiana plans to take that message to demonstrations outside the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Bali next month.

Erwiana's horrific ordeal made global headlines

She now works on behalf of migrant workers, including pushing for the release of former Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso who is on death row in Indonesia for drug smuggling.

Most domestic workers in Hong Kong are from poor communities in Indonesia and the Philippines and are vulnerable to abuse by employers and employment agencies.

Migrants from both countries have also suffered injury -- or worse -- in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

In February, the death of a Filipina maid in Kuwait, whose body was found this year stuffed in a freezer, sparked outrage in the Philippines.

Also this year, Indonesian domestic helper Adelina Sau died in hospital after being rescued from her employer's house in Malaysia's Penang state, with wounds covering her body. Her boss was charged with murder.

It is these stories that prompted Erwiana to fight for workers' rights, and never give up on herself even when she doubted her chances.

"I never imagined I'd be here -- I almost gave up," she said.

"I was so sick, I was a failed migrant worker and my injuries were all over the media.

"But because my family and fellow migrant worker friends gave me strength, I finally had the spirit to rise again."

VIDEO: A former Indonesian domestic helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih was imprisoned, starved and beaten so badly she lost control of her bodily functions. But four years later, she now fights for the rights of domestic helpers around the world https://t.co/RYY89JL6rA pic.twitter.com/kn1yXP9R6y

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 28, 2018

Erwiana Sulistyaningsih arrives at the Wanchai Law Courts to begin giving

 evidence against her former employer who is accused of abuse and torture, in

Hong Kong on Monday. (AFP Photo/Isaac Lawrence)

Related Article:

Erwiana Tells Court of ‘Torture’ by Hong Kong Employer

Indonesian maid to return to Hong Kong to help torture probe

Jokowi to Scrap ID Card for Indonesian Migrant Workers

World Bank Urges Better Resource Management in Indonesia

Indonesia loses $4 billion from its rain forests to illegal logging.

Jakarta Globe, Vanesha Manuturi, Jun 10, 2015

Farming is seen in the protected areas of the Kerinci National Park (TNKS),
in Kerinci, Jambi, in May. (Antara Photo/Wahdi Septiawan)

Jakarta. The World Bank has pressed Indonesia to improve resource management and governance as the country works towards more sustainable and environmentally-friendly economic growth over the next five years.

“Indonesia has enjoyed tremendous growth … but not all are benefiting from these achievements and they come with a high price of environmental degradation,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director and chief operating officer at the World Bank, on the first day of the Indonesia Green Infrastructure Summit 2015 in Jakarta on Tuesday.

She pointed to Indonesia’s forestry industry as an example of the country’s murky governance track record.

“Every year, Indonesia loses some $4 billion through illegal logging. Meanwhile, revenue from forestry licensing amounts to only $300 million per year,” she said. “This is a problem of governance, manifested in poor performance that impacts the implementation of existing regulations or design of better laws.”

Sri Mulyani — who was a former finance minister in the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration before resigning in 2010 — also noted “an information gap” among government agencies in Indonesia, which has led to a lack of transparency and efficiency in resource management.

“The energy sector, for example, needs more and better data on simple energy use and emissions,” she said.

Still, the World Bank managing director praised the government’s moratorium on new fishing permits for large operations as an “encouraging development.”

“A well-managed ‘blue’ economy can ensure food security, promote sustainable tourism and build resilience. But degradation through overfishing and dumped waste exacerbates poverty and undermines food security globally,” she said.

Improving governance of the fisheries sector coupled with large-scale investment in maritime transport and trade infrastructure could double fish production in the next five years, according to Sri.

During the same summit, Vice President Jusuf Kalla admitted the government’s stance to maintaining a sustainable economic growth has been lackluster.

“We’ve always thought about environmental issues after we’re faced with problems,” Kalla said.

“We’ve learnt and we are now learning with economic principles that are sustainable so that we can pass down this country for the next generation.”

Under President Joko Widodo, the government wants to boost growth to 7 percent over the next five years, bolstered by greater investment — both by the government and the private sector — in infrastructure development.

Joko’s infrastructure vision for the country includes the development of new power plants with a total capacity of 35,000 megawatts and nine million hectares of agriculture land across the country.

In a bid to encourage more environmentally-friendly investments, Indonesia currently offers tax allowances to nine business areas relating to environmental preservation, including geothermal power, refining and natural gas processing industry, organic basic chemical industry, and clean water reservoir and purification industry.

In April, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said that the ministry plans to offer more incentives — such as soft-loan facilities, business permit extensions and free import duties — to local and foreign investors with technology which reduces pollution and conserves energy.

GlobeAsia

US 'screwed up' handling of AIIB, says Albright

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-04-01

Madeleine Albright addresses the Senate Armed Forces Committee on
Jan. 29, 2015. (File photo/Xinhua)

The United State has "screwed up" on its way to deal with the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright said on Tuesday.

One of the motives for China to initiate the AIIB was that the US Congress held up the voting share reform in the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other international institutions, Albright said at an event held by the Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

As China and other countries have been questioning Washington's excessive dominance in international institutions, the US executive branch has proposed to Congress to try to adjust some of the voting share in the World Bank and IMF, in some way to ensure more equitable voting shares, but Congress has delayed to ratify such a reform. "I think there has been certain amount of frustration (from China and other countries) about that," Albright said.

According to the former secretary of state, the AIIB should not be seen as some kind of Chinese power grab, but an opportunity for the US to be able to put forward ideas on transparency and regulatory issues.

The US Treasury secretary, Jacob Lew, said recently that emerging and developed economies alike are looking to other alternatives as a means of driving the global system forward, as the international community waits for Congress to approve these reforms.

Also on Tuesday, Lew made it clear that the US stands ready to welcome the AIIB as it complements existing international financial institutions and upholds high standards.

The AIIB, expected to be formally established by the end of 2015, will be an international financial institution to fund infrastructure projects in Asia. China confirmed on Tuesday that 30 countries have been approved as prospective founding members of the bank.

US President Barack Obama, left, poses with Chinese President Xi Jinping as

 he arrives for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting at Yanqi

Lake, north of Beijing on Nov. 11, 2014. (AFP Photo/Greg Baker)

Related Articles:

China’s Influence Set to Climb as US Thwarted on New Bank

ASEAN has pivotal role in Beijing's regional integration plans

Xi Jinping, right, meets President Joko Widodo of Indonesia at the Great

Hall of the People in Beijing, March 26. (Photo/Xinhua)

Reasons behind Russia's reluctance to join AIIB: Duowei

World Bank welcomes AIIB initiative: managing director

Li Keqiang reaffirms AIIB cooperative stance

AIIB to have zero tolerance for corruption: official

Xi stresses Marxist approach to deepening reforms

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader. Remember where you heard it... in a strange, esoteric meeting with a guy in a chair pretending to channel. [Kryon being factious... Kryon humor] Then when you hear it, you'll know better, won't you? "Maybe there was something really there," you'll say. "Maybe it was real," you'll say. Perhaps you can skip all the drama of the years to come and consider that now? [Kryon humor again]

These leaders are going to fall over. You'll have a slow developing leadership coming to you all over the earth where there is a new energy of caring about the public. "That's just too much to ask for in politics, Kryon." Watch for it. That's just the beginning of this last phase. So many things are coming. The next one is related to this, for a country in survival with sickness cannot sustain a leadership of high consciousness. There is just too much opportunity for power and greed. But when a continent is healed, everything changes. .."

".. Many years ago, the prevailing thought was that nobody should consider China as a viable player on the economic stage. They were backward, filled with a system that would never be westernized, and had no wish to become joined with the rest of the world's economic systems. Look what has happened in only 30 years. Now, look at Africa differently …”

Li Keqiang reaffirms AIIB cooperative stance

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-03-25

Li Keqiang, right, meets Takehiko Nakao in Beijing, March 23. (Photo/CNS)

The Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, on Monday reaffirmed cooperation between the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and existing financial institutions.

The AIIB will take an open and inclusive attitude and be complementary to existing development banks, said Li at a meeting with the president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Takehiko Nakao .

The AIIB will strengthen the region's communication, social and economic development, Li said.

Nakao said the ADB was ready to cooperate with the AIIB.

Speaking of the support of the ADB for China's social and economic development, poverty reduction and regional economic cooperation, the premier pledged further partnership with ADB and called on it to play a bigger role in poverty reduction and development.

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland recently applied to join the AIIB as founding members, which already had 27 prospective founding members.

Nakao is in Beijing for the annual meeting of the China Development Forum, a platform for business and academic leaders to interact with China's top decision makers and economic planners.

This year's meeting has attracted more than a hundred CEOs from international corporations, experts and scholar, and leaders of international organizations.

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director at the World Bank. 

(File photo/Xinhua)

Related Articles:

World Bank welcomes AIIB initiative: managing director

AIIB to have zero tolerance for corruption: official
China’s Influence Set to Climb as US Thwarted on New Bank

World Bank welcomes AIIB initiative: managing director

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-03-23

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director at the World Bank. (File photo/Xinhua)

The World Bank welcomes the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and will closely cooperate with the China-proposed institution, the institution's managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Sunday.

"Any new initiative that will mobilize funding in order to fill infrastructure gap is certainly welcome. World Bank really welcomes the AIIB initiative," Indrawati told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

She dismissed worries that the AIIB will compete against World Bank or existing regional development banks, saying that the global need of infrastructure is huge and the market is large enough. "What's important is whether you are going to be able to match the funding with the need of infrastructure," said Indrawati.

"We will definitely open for cooperation with AIIB. Even now, we are working very closely in the beginning and looking at the setting, principle and framework of this institution," she said.

Indrawati said the World Bank will work to support and make sure that AIIB can live up to the expectation of many countries in the world who really want to see infrastructure to develop in a better and sustainable way.

"By working with us, it's going to show and prove that they (AIIB) are adopting the same principle like other international institutions, for example, like the World Bank," said Indrawati.

The AIIB aims to become an international financial institution providing support to infrastructure projects in Asia, and is expected to be established by the end of this year.

The bank has had 27 prospective founding members. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland have applied to join the AIIB as a founding member.

Related Articles:

China’s Influence Set to Climb as US Thwarted on New Bank

Li Keqiang reaffirms AIIB cooperative stance

AIIB to have zero tolerance for corruption: official

Indonesia Doubling Transport Budget With $10 Billion Fuel Saving

Jakarta Globe, Sharon Chen,  Jan 05, 2015

Motorists ride their motorbikes between cars during rush hour on a main road
in Jakarta on Nov. 28, 2014. (EPA Photo/Mast Irham)

Jakarta. Indonesia will save about $10 billion from the biggest overhaul of its decades-old fuel subsidy system, allowing the government to double spending on transportation, agriculture and public works, the energy minister said.

The finance ministry estimates that at least 120 trillion rupiah ($10 billion) in savings will be made this year, and the number will increase in coming years, said Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said in a Bloomberg Television interview with Angie Lau on Monday.

“What happened is shifting the subsidy from consumption into more productive spending,” the minister said.

“Because of the policy this year 2015, the public works, the transportation sector and the agriculture will double the capital expenditure budget.”

President Joko Widodo scrapped the subsidy for gasoline on Jan. 1 and capped the amount of aid for diesel, joining India and Malaysia in taking advantage of plunging oil prices to wean their nations off government subsidized fuel. Indonesia had been subsidizing fuel since the first oil price shock in the 1970s and kept prices at less than $0.20 per liter until 2005, according to a World Bank report published in March.

The government plans to double spending on transportation from last year, according to Said. The budget for public works such as roads, housing and irrigation will be more than twice the original allocation and more money will be set aside for farmers and the agriculture sector, he said. Building infrastructure for the oil and gas industry and electricity will be part of the government’s focus this year, he said.

Dismantling the subsidy program is a political hot potato — protests accompanied past price increases and riots spurred by soaring living costs helped oust dictator Suharto in 1998.

“The challenge would be of course the response from the public, but I have confidence that if we communicate well, then they will understand” and in the longer term it is going to be a much better budget structure, the minister said.

Bloomberg

With NDB established, Beijing turns to new bank for Asia

Want China Times, Kao Hsing and Staff Reporter 2014-07-18

A sign for the APEC 2014 second senior officials' meeting in Qingdao,
Shandong province, May 14. (File photo/CNS)

After the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) operated by the BRICS states on July 16, China is proposing to set up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as another part of Beijing's bid to break the dominance of the United States and Japan-led international financial institutions.

The NDB, an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, is run by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

China's next move is to launch the AIIB, which is considered a rival to the World Bank and the Japan-led Asian Development Bank.

The AIIB concept was proposed by President Xi Jinping at last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and its goal is to raise funds for infrastructure construction in Asia. In addition, the AIIB will invest in railways, road and airport construction that connects Central Asia, Middle East and Europe.

China has invited participation from 22 countries in the Middle East and Central and South Asia, as well as member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Premier Li Keqiang championed the AIIB idea when meeting the prime minister of Kuwait in June. Xi also brought up the AIIB issue several times during his recent meeting with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea, and they are understood to have reached a certain consensus.

At the annual BRICS summit this year, to attract India's participation in the AIIB, Xi invited India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi, to attend the APEC summit set to be held in Beijing in November, the first time for India to attend the annual event having declined participation over the last decade.

China also hopes the invitation will prompt India to back the establishment of the AIIB as well as quell discontent in India at the NDB being headquartered in Shanghai.

Beijing plans to complete the memorandum of understanding for the structure and establishment of the AIIB by the end of this year and officially launch it during the first half of next year. It also plans to join the Eurasian Development Bank soon after.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (4-L, first row) poses with leaders of the

 CELAC group of Latin American and Caribbean states, in Brasilia, on July 17,

 2014 (AFP Photo/Nelson Almeida)

Related Articles:

Chinese leader woos Latin America with deals

BRICS create development bank, based in Shanghai

BRICS create development bank, based in Shanghai

Yahoo – AFP, 15 July 2014

The BRICS group of emerging powers launched a $50 billion development bank Tuesday to be based in Shanghai and a $100 billion crisis contingency fund, according to a joint declaration.

The New Development Bank's first president will be from India while the board's chairman will be Brazilian, according to the declaration released at a summit in Fortaleza, Brazil.

The bank will have an initial subscribed capital of $50 billion followed by an authorized capital of $100 billion, equally shared among Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

The Contingency Reserve Arrangement will have an initial size of $100 billion and will help countries avoid "short-term liquidity pressures, promote further BRICS cooperation, strengthen the global financial safety net and complement existing international arrangements."

The bank and fund are seen as counterweights to the Western-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which BRICS nations say need more reform to give emerging nations more voting rights.

Related Articles:

Opinion: BRICS bank is misleading packaging

The End of the World Bank?

With NDB established, Beijing turns to new bank for Asia - New

BRICS bank will reduce Western dominance: Chinese media

BRICS launch new development bank and joint monetary fund (+Video)

Renminbi may replace US dollar as main reserve currency

Asian Development Bank set to appoint first Chinese chief economist

World Bank: Indonesia World’s 10th Largest Economy

Jakarta Globe, May 04, 2014

An employee of Bank Negara Indonesia moves a pack of 100,000 Rupiah
notes at the bank’s head office in Jakarta. (Reuters Photo/Supri)

Jakarta. Indonesia has the 10th largest economy in the world, according to a recent report by the World Bank, with the country contributing 2.3 percent of global economic output.

The report released the findings of the 2011 International Comparison Program (ICP), which assesses economies based on purchasing power parity (PPP) and noted that Indonesia moved up six places and leapfrogged more developed countries such as Spain, South Korea and Canada.

The ICP round gathered over 7 million prices from 199 economies in eight regions, with assistance from 15 regional and international partners.

In the top nine are the United States, China, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Brazil, France and Britain.

The middle-income economies of Indonesia, China, India, Russia, Brazil and Mexico now account for 32.3 percent of world gross domestic product. That compares with the 32.9 percent contributed by the six largest high-income economies, United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Italy. The report also showed that the United States was about to lose its status as the world’s biggest economy, as China is likely to surpass it by the end of this year, faster than widely anticipated.

The United States has been the biggest economy in the world since overtaking the United Kingdom in 1872.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has predicted that China will overtake the United States by 2016 while China itself is hoping to become number one by 2019. According to the report China’s GDP was nearly 87 percent of the US GDP in 2011, while India had moved up from being in 10th position in 2005 to the third-largest economy, overtaking Japan.

However, some say the PPP is just one measure to judge the performance of the world’s economies and that developing nations like India and China still have a lot of catching up to do.

“When, for example, we measure international purchasing power expressed in dollars, which matters in international trade, the United States, Europe and Japan continue to be the dominant economies in the world,” Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asia economic research at HSBC in Hong Kong said as reported by International Business Time, which quoted CNBC.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was quick to respond. “This morning I received a report that Indonesia has become the world’s 10th largest economy. Thank God, it is all of our efforts and hard work,” he said through his twitter account.

He said the nation continues working to reach higher levels of prosperity.

“This is of course a good start. But we still have a long way to go as we are facing many challenges. However, God willing, we can overcome those challenges,” he told a gathering in Jakarta later in the day.

Finance Minister Chatib Basri said the achievement was an endorsement of the government’s economic policy. “That means Indonesia’s economy is on the right track and we have made significant progress because a couple years ago we were in 16th position,” Chatib said, as quoted by Detik on Sunday.

But many other reports pointed out that while the rise of Indonesia should be praised, it has an uneven growth rate, with a widening gap between rich and poor.

Citing a forthcoming report by the World Bank, the Economist warned that real consumption grew by about 4 percent a year on average from 2003 to 2010. But for the poorest 40 percent of households it grew by only 1.3 percent. In contrast, consumption by the richest 20 percent grew by 5.9 percent.

Based on this data, the magazine concluded that the rich are getting richer much more rapidly than the poor.

The growing inequality between low-income groups and high-income groups has also been indicated by the country’s worsening Gini coefficient — which represents income disbursement — from 0.29 in 2000 to 0.38 in 2011, a drop of almost a third in equality.

The Economist also points to the fact that the informal sector accounts for 70 percent of the country’s GDP, meaning that the vast majority of Indonesia’s working population has no guarantee of minimum wage and protection from the government.

People are forced to go informal because manufacturing in Indonesia is hamstrung by decrepit infrastructure, rigid labor laws and protectionist policies that make it difficult for its factories to be competitive, according to the magazine.

Indonesia has increased its social spending, the magazine reported, adding that the government has bold plans to introduce universal health care by 2019.

However, government spending is still skewed towards the rich, with about 20 percent of the central government’s budget, or 282 trillion rupiah ($24.5 billion) this year, going on energy subsidies. Cheap gasoline benefits the rich, who are its biggest consumers.

World Bank Whistle-Blower: “Precious Metals to Serve as an Underpinning for Paper Currencies"

Silver Doctors, 7 May 2013

I had the opportunity yesterday to speak with one of the western world’s most courageous and astute women, Karen Hudes, Former Senior Counsel to the World Bank—now turned whistle-blower.

It was a powerful conversation, as Karen spent 20 years with the World Bank as an attorney and economist, before being “let-go” after reporting internal fraud and corruption.

During the interview Karen indicated that the world is rapidly changing, with western power structures breaking down, economic & political influence gravitating to BRICs nations, all amid a pending currency transition which will highly favor precious metals.   Hudes stated: “All of the countries of the world are going to allow precious metals to serve as currency, and this will be an underpinning for paper currency, as we’ll have both systems at the same time.”

From Tekoa Da Silva:

Starting out by discussing the shocking centralized power she witnessed while working at the World Bank, Karen explained that, “A study done by three [Swiss] systems analysts who used mathematical modeling [shows] how the [world's] 43,000 transnational corporations were being controlled through interlocking corporate directorates. There’s a group of 147 companies, most of them are financial institutions, and what they’ve done, is through the interlocking directorates, they control 40% of the net worth of these [43k] companies, and 60% of their earnings…so that group has been using the presidency of the World Bank as kind of a puppet to dominate the world—that’s [now] finished.”

A major shock to that centralized power base, according to Karen, was the recent move by BRICs nations leaders to bypass the World Bank for their financing needs, by establishing their own development bank. “As the BRICs [nations] economic power grows,” she explained, “they’re not going to be strangled anymore through the grabbing [of] their resources…So their decision to start their own development bank was their way of letting [world] governments know…that its time to end this corruption.”

Major moves toward monetary independence are also being made by growing numbers of U.S. states, Karen added. She explained that, “The states are starting to have legislation recognizing gold and silver bullion as legal currency. This is [also] a very strong signal the states are sending to the federal government, that the time to get serious about ending the corruption in the financial system is now here.”

When asked her thoughts on what this all means for the world monetary system, Karen said, “What’s going to happen, is we’re going to have all the countries of the world, sit down and figure out what’s going to be the best, most orderly transition from the current system that we have, [which has] profound imbalance and unsustainable deficits…[this change] is going to happen as each country makes its preference known, because the system we have now is not transparent, and the biggest change [in the new system], is that there’s going to be transparency.”

That transparency may be found through a gold-backed currency system, Karen noted, as, “All of the countries of the world are going to allow precious metals to serve as currency, and this will be an underpinning for paper currency, [as] we’ll have both systems at the same time. This is my guess, as I mentioned—I am an economist.”

As a final comment speaking towards her difficult journey as a World Bank whistle-blower, Karen said, “I’ve been struggling now for years, to tell the American public what’s [been] going on. I haven’t gotten through, because this [financial] group has bought up the press and has been spreading disinformation systematically. That undermines the whole point of a democracy. How can voters vote without an informed opinion, without the information that they’re entitled too? So this strangle-hold on information is going to end in very short order.”

——

This was a powerful interview conducted with a great American patriot and honorable world citizen. Karen is setting an example for the history books, and her interview is required listening for global thinkers and market students.

To listen to the interview, left click the following link and/or right click and “save target as” or “save link as” to to your desktop:

>>Interview with Karen Hudes (MP3)

To learn more about Karen and support her work, visit: Kahudes.net

Related Articles:

World Bank Whistle-blower. Confidence in the Dollar as an International Currency Is Waning.

CDB governor Chen Yuan to set up BRICS Development Bank

RMB on way to becoming global reserve currency: IMF official

Archangel Michael on the World’s Movement into the Golden Age, March 24, 2013 – Part 2/2

“… GW: Shifting to events that are taking place in Europe at this point in time, it seems that the events in Europe are reaching or about to hit a breaking point of some kind. Several leaders, including Nigel Farage and allegedly Russian Prime Minister Medvedev have suggested that people should be removing their money from their accounts as the cabal may attempt a last ditch grab for money.

Now, I know, and perhaps many know, that the current system is corrupt and that there will have to be a degree of change in the current system before people will be willing to embrace the new system.

I don’t wish this question to sound alarmist to people, but is what is happening now one of the final, if not the final, straw that will help expose the banking cabal and allow the new system to be implemented? Is this new system ready? Or is it already being implemented? Or is it still only limited to preparatory work?

AAM: No, it is already underway. It is already being implemented. And yes, we do not wish to sound alarmist either, and so we also wish people to know that their resources, what they think of as their money, for those who have saved and put their faith in banking systems, they will be protected to a certain extent. So do not think that you have need to run out and remove all your monies, or that it will be completely gone. But yes, this is the beginning of a transition.

The expression of the lack of faith in particularly the European banking system causes enormous disruption, more significant perhaps than anywhere else. And so yes, it does have a domino effect, but it is not one simply shutting down [the old system] and a new system emerging. It is coming into balance with the new emerging as the old simply fades away.

Is it a last ditch effort on the part of those who have clung to the old paradigm of the 3rd, what you call the cabal? Yes, it is. But it matters not, because it is not going to work for them. Seldom are things such as this situation so black and white. There is always room for free choice and free movement and adjustment.

But in this situation it is simply evolution and expansion. And the expansion of the new, of the new paradigm, of what you think of as Fifth-Dimensional financial systems does not allow for systems that are based on greed and theft and control — and unfairness, basic unfairness, usury.

So, it is rather clearly defined. You have an expression that you use on Earth, “Out with the old.” And this is one of those situations where it is, in fact, the truth.

GW: Okay. So, along the lines of the leadership, or at least some of the leadership of what’s taking place in the financial sector globally, it has been reported that the apartment of the IMF managing director Christine Lagarde was raided last week.

Was this an attempt to expose her as part of the banking cabal, or was it an attempt to stop her from fulfilling the reforms that she is allegedly trying to bring to the international banking system?

AAM: It was an attempt to gather information and perhaps even destroy documentation that she is trying to bring forth for the reform of the financial situation. It was an unsuccessful raid.

GW: Okay. So what I’m hearing in your answer, then, is that Christine Lagarde is working for, I guess, the forces of light to bring the greater change to the IMF. Am I correct?

AAM: Yes. This one has had a real turn-around. No, we do not ever categorize individuals or groups or people as light or dark. But this one has truly committed herself to reformation.

She sees and she has the experience very clearly of knowing what does not work. And therefore she has committed her mission, her purpose to this reformation.

GW: Okay. And could the same be said about the new US Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew? Is he on board with all the changes and working for the reformation as well with Lagarde?

AAM: He is an agent and an angel of change. He could not be simply on board. He is a moving force. ‘…‘’

"The U in Kundalini"- Oct 18, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Kundalini, Unification, EU, Nobel Peace Prize 2012, Middle East, South America, Only 5 Currencies on Earth, Old Souls, Duality will dismiss, 3D Humanity will melt with Multi dimensional higher self, Global Unity… etc.)