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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
OECD extends development assistance criteria
Lack of direction in the face of increasing poverty
The many voices of German education co-operation
“Decent work instead of exploitation” for children
US Senate investigates World Bank corruption
Development assistance rising
KfW development bank debate on fighting poverty
New dynamism for the WTO
6/2004
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[ IMF and World Bank ]
Lack of direction in the face of
increasing poverty
This year’s spring meeting held by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank was entirely devoted to situation analysis. Despite previous assurances that fighting poverty would be the most significant topic, the analysis of global poverty developments turned out higher on the agenda. In their recent Global Monitoring Report, the IMF and the World Bank document individual countries’ progress in reducing poverty. The figures show that, unless trends change, most countries will fail to achieve the agreed development goals by 2015. South of the Sahara the situation is particularly alarming. In contrast to other world regions, it is highly unlikely that Africa’s numbers of starving children will be halved within the intended period (1990 to 2015). Here, child mortality remains distinctly higher than anywhere else.
At the World Bank Development Committee session such data were noted with concern but not amazement. Laying the blame squarely at the door of influential member countries, World Bank President James Wolfensohn compared current high levels of spending on defence in advanced countries with their poor financial commitment to development assistance.
Others such as Arundhati Roy made use of the spring meeting to highlight the simple causal link between World Bank policies and burgeoning poverty. In a show of support for those demonstrating against globalisation, the Indian writer said: “In its 60 year history the World Bank’s model of ‘development’ has led to the forcible eviction of hundreds of thousands of people in Developing Countries, to the destruction of their lives and livelihoods.”
None of this made the organisations’ decision-makers sit up and listen. No decisive criteria on the scope of development assistance subsidies, debt-reduction or fiscal deficit limits emerged from the conference. Nor did the spring meeting record anything on contributions the IMF and World Bank might make to advance the Millennium Development Goals. The Philippine Freedom from Debt Coalition summed up a message to both financial institutions: “Sixty years is more than enough! Retire now!”
Ann Kathrin Schneider
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