WASHINGTON: The president of the World Bank unveiled a new simplified corporate “scorecard” Thursday to measure its progress, ahead of a gathering of global financial leaders in Washington next week. The Bank’s new “yardstick of accountability” has reduced the number of indicators from around 150 to just 22, Ajay Banga told reporters, adding that the simplified set of indicators should make it easer to evaluate progress. “It’s much more oriented on output,” he said. “It’s not about reducing our ambition. It’s about sharpening our focus.”

Ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s semi-annual gathering of senior financial policymakers in Washington next week, Banga also took stock of the reforms the development lender has made to become “bigger” and “better” since he took office in June last year.

He lauded the World Bank’s progress to decrease the average time it takes to get a new project off the ground from 19 months to 16 — halfway toward its goal to reduce it to 12 months. Banga also praised efforts to simplify the Washington-based lender’s operations and to spur its different parts to collaborate more effectively on projects. “Obviously, there’s more work to do, but I’m encouraged that we’re moving in the right direction,” he said. — AFP