[stop-imf] CSMonitor: US assigns higher priority to World Bank, IMF issues

[Robert Weissman]

US assigns higher priority to World Bank, IMF
issues

 Officials take a Sept. 11-altered view of the
world to the groups' spring meeting.
 By David R. Francis | Staff writer of The
Christian Science Monitor

April 19, 2002



 For years, the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank have been low on the
 United States' list of foreign-affairs
priorities. That's changed.

 The two multilateral institutions, assembling
this weekend at their Washington
 headquarters for their joint spring meeting, have
assumed new importance.

 The big reason: Sept. 11.

 The events of that day showed how problems in one
part of the world can wreak
 destruction thousands of miles away. President
Bush, in fact, has spoken of poverty ?
 one of the key problems that appeared to bring on
the attacks ? as a "breeding ground
 for terrorists."

 That conclusion has led the American political
right to share more concerns with the
 left about the importance of economic development
in poor nations. The issue will figure
 high on the meeting agendas of the two financial
institutions ? and will be a rallying
 point for the now-familiar protesters outside.

 It could mean even more official scrutiny of two
organizations that in recent years have
 faced increasing grass-roots criticism. "What's
unprecedented is that so many political
 actors care about what the IMF and the World Bank
are doing," says William Easterly, an
 economist at the Center for Global Development
(CGD), a Washington think tank. "This is  a new
experience for them."

 Foreign aid up by 50 percent


 At the United Nations International Conference on
Financing for Development in
 Monterrey, Mexico, last month, Mr. Bush spoke of
his new pledge to seek a 50 percent
 increase in America's foreign aid by 2006.

 That shift surprised the world. For perhaps 20
years, the US has talked to other
 countries about desirable development policies.
But in relative terms, America opened
 its pocketbook only slightly to pay for foreign
aid. As a result, foreign ministers
 looked on US advice with skepticism.

 "Now, for the first time in a generation, the
United States has a certain degree of
 stature and credibility as a leader in the
foreign-aid debate," says Frank Vogl, vice
 president of Transparency International, a
Washington group trying to stem corruption in
 developing countries.

 The US move will increase pressure on Japan and
Europe to step up their foreign aid as
 well -- something they have long proclaimed as
their intent.

 Hundreds of activists outside the meetings are
expected to weigh in on the issues as
 well. Already on Wednesday, for instance, a
coalition of the AFL-CIO and more than two
 dozen labor, environmental, religious,
development, and gender groups issued a 36-page
 report calling for a host of bank reforms. These
include giving more debt relief to poor
 countries, making more grants rather than loans,
and measuring better the results of its
 loans for health and education programs.

 In addition, the CGD and the Institute for
International Economics, another Washington
 research group, yesterday called on the IMF to
sell some of its gold to finance further
 debt relief for the poorest countries.

 Up for discussion

 Inside the joint meeting, a representative group
of ministers and central bankers from
 the institutions' 180-plus member nations will be
considering a program to achieve
 universal primary education by 2010. At present,
100 million children,
 disproportionately girls, do not attend school at
all.

 In addition to poverty reduction, the agenda will
also explore ways to increase the
 effectiveness of aid and remove rich-country
barriers to exports from poor nations. In
 the case of agricultural exports, industrialized
nations as a group spend $350 billion
 on subsidies for their farmers, thereby often
excluding farm imports, says World Bank
 spokeswoman Caroline Anstay. Those subsidies are
seven times greater than the total of
 foreign aid.

 A World Bank development report to be issued
tomorrow will note that growth rates of   per
 capita income in poor lands must double from the
1990s rate if they are to reach a UN
 goal of cutting world poverty in half.
Sub-Saharan Africa is not on track, the report
 adds.

 At the sessions involving the IMF, there will be
discussions on how to prevent and
 resolve economic crises such as those in
Argentina and Turkey.

 Many critics charge the IMF with imposing
conditions on loans that are wrong or too
 tough for troubled nations. The delegates will
review this "conditionality."

 A Sept. 11-related topic will be money laundering
and terrorism.