IMF, WB seek support for development of poorest nations

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Oct 10 (PTI) The International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank on Saturday sought support from
developed as well as emerging economies to the development of
the world's poorest nations.
"When I see rich countries or so-called advanced
economies cutting in aid lines, I do not believe they are
doing the right thing, even if I can understand that they have
to consolidate their own fiscal sustainability. Advanced
economies have to do what they committed to do," IMF Managing
Director Dominique Strauss- Kahn told reporters at the end of
the two-day bi-annual meeting of IMF and the World Bank.
He said the development needs of the world's poorest
nations were not forgotten by world leaders despite the fact
that the meeting was flooded with other hot issues.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick called for a
"strong" replenishment to the International Development
Association (IDA), the Bank's fund for the world's poorest
countries.
Lack of support to IDA would devastate the effort to
try to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), he
said.
"IDA is fundamental to the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDG), he said.
MDG are eight international development goals that all
UN member states have agreed to achieve by 2015, MDGs include
eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates,
fighting diseases like AIDS.
He also said it is critical not to see these goals as
independent.
"I think our challenge is that, at a time of budget
stress, we need to put together what I have referred to as the
coalition, to be able to show that we have got everybody
contributing, and I think we are on the way to doing that, but
it is going to require continuing push,” Zoellick said.
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his
address to IMF-WG meet also said "In fact, it is quite
worrying that the Bank’s annual lending will come down to a
maximum of USD 15 billion from next year onwards.
"We need strong multilateral buffers to face future
crises, play a counter-cyclical role and help maintain
development expenditures. For this, we need to quickly focus
on further expanding the Bank’s lending capacity through
innovative measures. This may even require further capital
enhancement," he said.
In his address, Mukherjee also called on the need to
increase private inflows.
"If we really want to have money for development, there
are many ways to find the resources, including increasing
taxes if there is a political will to do it, but then it is
easier to increase existing taxes than to rely on the
potential levy which is not still in the place," Zoellick
said.
"The risk is that it takes so much time to have it
that finally you will never get the money for the goal you are
looking at,” Strauss-Kahn said in response to a question. PTI
LKJ
MHM