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To: dave who wrote (32575)	4/27/1999 8:40:00 AM
From: lorne	Respond to of 116764

Hello Dave. Think I have changed my mind about winners of this war. IMO it is the break em buy em squad ( IMF ) and World bank. They are already in there picking over the remains note at end of this article Yugoslavia was not member of IMF/ world bank. Its all about control? EU sees $30 billion bill to rebuild Balkans By Alan Wheatley, European Economics Correspondent WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - The cost of economic reconstruction in the Balkans after the Kosovo war could reach $30 billion, according to preliminary European estimates reviewed on Monday by the Group of Seven industrial nations. European officials said the European Union's commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Yves-Thibault de Silguy, gave the estimate during a briefing to the G7 on Europe's economic prospects. Countries, donors and international financial institutions will meet on Tuesday in Washington at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) to discuss the financing needs of countries affected by the crisis in Kosovo, an International Monetary Fund spokesman said. The G7 said in a communique issued after their regular spring meeting that the flood of refugees from Kosovo was causing serious economic consequences for neighboring countries. German Finance Minister Hans Eichel said last week that Balkans reconstruction could entail the need for a new Marshall Plan akin to the massive aid the United States gave to help Europe recover from the ravages of World War II. But officials said ministers did not go into detail on Monday. With NATO's month-long air campaign against the forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic still going on, they said it was too early to start in-depth planning. "We simply discussed around the table that when the war is over there will be quite large costs involved in Kosovo," Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin told reporters. Britain's finance minister, Gordon Brown, said there was a recognition that economic reconstruction was a task for the G7, which groups the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada, and particularly for the international financial institutions. "We are determined to do what we can to help both with the immediate problems in these countries and of course to help what will be a necessary reconstruction of many of the economies," Brown said. The European officials said the Commission, the Brussels-based executive arm of the 15-nation EU, was already drawing up plans for a possible balance-of-payments loan for Bulgaria worth 100 million euros. But de Silguy told the G7 that, though the euro had been weakened by the war on the EU's doorstep, the economic and budgetary impact on the bloc as a whole had so far been minimal. "There's been no real evidence of an impact," one official said. Tuesday's talks will be attended by more than 40 delegates from the countries caught up in the turmoil and representatives from the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the European Investment Bank and other institutions. "The IMF and the World Bank are working to put an intervention policy for the whole region in place," Italian Treasury Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi told reporters. "Without that there will be significant damage to the economies there. We must start looking for a remedy." Albania and Macedonia are struggling to house and feed hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Kosovo, a province of Yugoslavia largely populated by ethnic Albanians. NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia has disrupted trade and economic prospects further afield. World Bank President James Wolfensohn said last week that aid efforts in the countries worst affected by the Kosovo crisis could cost $2 billion. This does not include the cost of reconstruction in Yugoslavia, which is not a member of the World Bank or the IMF. The IMF and the World Bank cannot help with strictly humanitarian issues like refugee aid. But the IMF can provide funds to help countries cope with balance of payments problems, while the bank can help with issues like health care, infrastructure and education. reuters.com