Washington, DC — Although most regions in the world will achieve or come close to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving income poverty by 2015, "Africa will fall far short," according to a staff-written paper prepared for discussion by the Development Committee at this year's spring meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Relieving income poverty is just one of several Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations three years ago. These goals target the year 2015 as the year by which poverty and hunger will have been halved, all primary school age children will have gained a place at school, women are empowered, child mortality has been significantly reduced, the spread of HIV/Aids and other diseases has been halted and a sustainable environment created.
Topping the Bank's agenda this year is a proposal to have regular assessments of the progress being made or not being made towards the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Within this context, discussions about giving developing nations a bigger voice in the bank's decision-making will also take place.
Some progress has been made. But, say many at the Bank and Fund, not nearly enough. And the prognosis is gloomier than ever. When rich nations met in Paris to come up with US$400m for education for seven countries over the next three years they only managed to find US$200m. The U.S. and G7 nations are certain to continue their opposition to a greater voice for developing nations.
And so it goes. "The World Bank's latest annual report on African Development Indicators (ADI) sounds a clear warning that the rapid spread of HIV/Aids, anemic aid and investment flows, and weak commodity prices threaten to undo the hard-fought gains of recent years," said the Bank's chief economist for the African region, Alan Gelb, releasing the ADI report for 2003 Wednesday.
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It's not that these issues are new, and the numbers haven't varied greatly from last year, but the climate has certainly changed, say Bank and Fund officials as well as other analysts. War with Iraq is the biggest new factor in this changed climate. The IMF is predicting slower than expected global growth because of it.
Treasury Department officials are saying that at this year's spring meeting, they want to start discussing long-run plans for Iraqi reconstruction with finance ministers and officials from G7 nations in attendance. The World Bank will be asked to begin work on an Iraq reconstruction plan. "We hope we can keep the international community focused on some key development issues," says Bank spokesperson Carolyn Anstey. "In a world of finite resources, there are real concerns that attention not be lost on Afghan reconstruction ... or in Rwanda."
Increasingly the bank stresses the link between trade and development. Failure in the last round of trade talks in Doha is certain to be an important part of this week's discussions. The talks, which were launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001, aim to open new markets but have stalled on rich country refusal to end agricultural subsidies. And though the WTO "takes the lead" on this issue, said World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn in a note to the Development Committee last week, "market restrictions and subsidies in agriculture are the single most important external impediment to tackling poverty in developing countries." And, adds Development Committee Executive Secretary, Tom Bernes: "If we are to meet Millennium Development Goals there has to be a breakthrough on trade."
