Xinhua writes that the IFC hopes to support China's securitization business when authorities open the country's debt market further, said Karin Finkelston, associate director of IFC's East Asia & Pacific Department. "We hope to be able to use our credit or credit guarantees to support the securitization of mortgages, equity loans and non-performing loans on China's debt market," Finkelston said. She did not elaborate on IFC's plans for supporting securitization, saying only that the organization hopes to help Chinese companies making debt offers.
Reuters reports that the World Bank said on Tuesday that Madagascar must radically shake up its state electricity company if it wants to continue receiving donor funding for its energy sector. Impoverished Madagascar has suffered crippling power blackouts since June as state energy company Jirama grappled with huge debts and rising fuel costs. Jirama uses diesel to generate 60 percent of its power. World Bank country director James Bond said donors could not subsidize electricity in Madagascar indefinitely.
The Nation (Kenya) notes that despite the apparent neglect of coffee, pyrethrum and cotton farming, the World Bank says they have the greatest potential if urgently reformed. A report by the bank's Africa Region Private Sector Unit links the coffee and the pyrethrum sectors' decline to lack of effective institutions. It blames the International Coffee Organization and the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya, which it describes as outdated institutional structures, for the inefficiencies in the sectors. The report, titled "Kenya Value Chain Analysis", highlights areas where reforms should take place to improve Kenya's industrial competitiveness for the crops.