Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Palau who wrote (156143)	6/27/2001 3:45:12 PM
From: goldworldnet	Respond to of 769667

O'Neill Seeks IMF, World Bank Reforms Wednesday June 27, 2:13 pm Eastern Time Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill Says More Reforms Are Needed at World Bank and International Monetary Fund By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank need to go further in overhauling their institutions to better prevent financial crises and fight global poverty, the Bush administration said Wednesday. ``It's time for a new approach to alleviating poverty,'' Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said in a speech outlining the administration's proposals for the 183-nation IMF and the World Bank. For the World Bank, this effort will focus on ways to improve productivity in poor nations with a major emphasis on boosting access to education, O'Neill said. He said he would be pushing the new approach at a meeting of finance ministers of the world's seven richest industrial countries on July 7 in Rome. That session will help prepare the agenda for this year's economic summit, which President Bush will attend on July 20-22 in Genoa. O'Neill, who delivered his remarks to the Economic Club of Detroit, said that over the past 50 years, the IMF, the World Bank and the regional development banks have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the effort to alleviate poverty and prevent financial crises. ``Visit some of the poorest nations in the world and you will see that we have too little to show for it,'' O'Neill said of the $470 billion the World Bank has provided in loans and grants since it was created after World War II. ``If we are to accomplish our goal of raising living standards around the world, we must focus intently and solely on projects that raise productivity,'' O'Neill said. As part of that effort, O'Neill said the World Bank should put more resources into providing education in poor countries because a skilled work force is necessary to raise productivity, the amount of output per hour of work. ``Over the past five years, education projects accounted for only 7 percent of total World Bank funding. That must change,'' O'Neill said. He said the administration would also be campaigning to get the World Bank to place a greater emphasis on improving farm productivity in poor nations as a prerequisite to establishing a viable manufacturing sector. When the World Bank makes loans to build new factories, it should pay attention to the overall world supply of the product to make sure that poor nations don't invest ``in sectors that are already oversupplied,'' he said. This has been a major complaint of U.S. steel makers, who contend they are forced to compete against foreign steel plants that are heavily subsidized by their governments. The United States is the largest shareholder in both the IMF and the World Bank, giving it significant weight in efforts to make proposed changes at both agencies. For the IMF, O'Neill repeated past criticism that the agency has failed to devote enough attention to preventing financial crises before they erupt. He cited the recent IMF loan program for Turkey as an example of the type of changes the Bush administration will pursue in IMF procedures. The new IMF loans to Turkey were not accompanied by bilateral assistance from the United States and other countries, a demand the administration made in an effort to limit the size of the rescue package. In addition, the administration insisted that the Turkish government take a number of prior actions before the IMF loans were approved. ``Going forward, Turkey's success will depend on that government following through on its commitment,'' O'Neill said. While O'Neill said changing the IMF's operating procedures ``will take time,'' he expressed satisfaction that the reforms put in place to deal with Turkey showed that the IMF had started the process. biz.yahoo.com * * *