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A Guide to the World Bank
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environmental category. Results show the basic project information with links to available project documents. Recent loans, credits, and grants. The World Bank also posts information on loans, credits, and grants most recently approved by the Board of Executive Directors under “News” on the Bank’s Web site (http://www. worldbank.org/loansandcredits). Here, users can view information by date, by topic (sector), by region, or by country. The listings generally include the names of contacts who can provide additional information. Documents and reports. This feature of the World Bank’s Web site, available at http://www-wds.worldbank.org, provides more than 14,000 World Bank documents—the full range of material that is made available to the public under its disclosure policy. This approach to accessing project documents is an alternative to searching the projects database. This site also includes documents created through the Bank’s country economic and sector work, as well as various working papers and informal series from departments around the Bank. Users of the site can access documents in both text and in PDF. Printed copies can be ordered from the InfoShop. InfoShop. The InfoShop is the World Bank Group’s bookstore and is located at Bank headquarters. It provides printed copies of project documents and also sells the Bank Group’s formal publications, books on development topics by other publishers, souvenirs, and gifts. For more information, see “How to Order” at http://www.worldbank.org/infoshop. Public Information Centers (PICs). These centers, which are maintained at World Bank country offices, make Bank information available to the public and disseminate its work to the widest possible audience. PIC Europe in Paris and PIC Tokyo offer the complete range of project documents for all member countries and maintain libraries of recent World Bank publications. Other country office PICs and libraries worldwide have project documents specific to the country in which the office is located and often offer a library of recent Bank publications. Each PIC serves as the central contact in the country for people seeking to obtain Bank documents and information on the Bank’s operations. The InfoShop coordinates with all PICs to ensure broad dissemination of information in compliance with the Bank’s disclosure policy. For more information, see appendix F.
IFC Project Cycle IFC offers a wide variety of financial products to private sector projects in developing countries. The project cycle, outlined below, illustrates the stages a business idea goes through as it becomes an IFC-financed project.