VilaWeb - Diari escola: Changes at the World Bank

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dijous, 2 de maig de 2024

> Origins and Mission

> How is the Chairman Chosen?

> Critics

dijous, 28 de juny de 2007

The World Bank is an international financial institution, which is often at the centre of controversy for the way it conducts its affairs and awards loans. Over recent months, the World Bank has been embroiled in a scandal involving its chairman, Paul Wolfowitz, who was forced to resign just two years after his appointment.

Wolfowitz announced the resignation on 17 May this year, on the same day the Bank's board of directors recognised his responsibility in promoting and giving an excessive pay rise to his partner, Shaha Riza, an employee of the Bank.

Apart from the scandal, the style of Wolfowitz (an arch conservative and fierce defender of the US-led invasion of Iraq) has led to clashes at the heart of the institution. Paradoxically, Wolfowitz started his mandate under the banner of fighting corruption in the way loans were awarded to developing countries.

Another American, Robert Zoellick, will take over from Paul Wolfowitz. Zoellick has been described as having a flair for dialogue and moderation. Nominated by US President George Bush, Zoellick's was the only name put forward for the job.

! Actualització el 28/06/2007 a les 06:00

El Punt: El consell del Banc Mundial confirma Zoellick com a president.

+ Webs relacionades dins Nosaltres.Cat: Antiglobalització econòmica.

Origins and Mission

+ Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes at Bretton Woods, where the World Bank was set up.

With its headquarters in the US capital Washington DC, the World Bank is a banking institution made up of 185 countries who are the bank's shareholders, with the five main ones being the United States, Japan, Germany, France and Great Britain. Set up in 1944, towards the end of the Second World War, the Bank started off well with the objective of financing countries that had been devastated by the horrific war, the most deadly in history. Today, the World Bank grants loans with the principal aim of combating poverty, in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals which should be met by approximately 2015.

How is the Chairman Chosen?

+ World Bank headquarters are in Washington.

The World Bank was set up in New Hampshire (USA) at the Bretton Woods Conference, which also saw the birth of a complementary financial institution, the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In accordance with a non-written agreement ('gentlemen's agreement', as it is known), the International Monetary Fund is headed by a European whilst the US, as the leading shareholder in both organisations, chooses who runs the World Bank. Following the Wolfowitz case, it was hoped that the selection process would be more transparent, more democratic, but, in the end, the traditional system prevailed.

Critics

+ Protesters against the World Bank in the US capital.

Although the main aim of the World Bank is to reduce world poverty, its activities also have their detractors, mainly (but not only) from the so-called 'anti-globalisation' movement and from the Global Justice Movement. For the organisations that make up these movements, the World Bank's policy of offering long-term loans at low rates of interest only serves to increase the disparity between rich and poor and the dependency of Third World countries. Criticisms of the World Bank are also extended to other international institutions (the IMF, the G8, the World Trade Organisation, etc.), considered symbols of neo-liberal capitalism.

MATERIALS

World Bank
Format:Web
Pàgina oficial. En unes quantes llengües.
Institucions Financeres Internacionals
Format:Web
Anàlisi de les més representatives. A càrrec de l'Observatori del Deute en la Globalització.

Global Justice Movement
Format:Web
Article i vincles sobre aquest moviment, crític amb aquestes mateixes institucions i amb la direcció que segueix la mundialització.
IMF and World Bank
Format:Web
Perfil del Fons Monetari Internacional i del Banc mundial. A la BBC.

QUE HO SABIES?

The main agencies that make up the World Bank are the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which concentrates on creditworthy, medium-sized economies, and the International Development Association (IDA), offering assistance to the poorest countries in the world.
In parallel to the World Bank, the United States, fearful of the spread of communism after the Second World War, launched its Marshall Plan in 1948, a multi-million dollar aid programme to help rebuild a large number of European countries.