Global Economic Growth Is Strong, World Bank Says

WASHINGTON — The World Bank said yesterday the impact of recent turbulence in financial markets on developing countries has been limited and global economic growth remains strong.The bank also called on donor governments to meet their commitments to boost aid for development and said countries with fast-growing economies and mounting currency reserves could bring new resources to this effort.The bank’s policy-setting development committee said its members “agreed that strengthened support for the inclusion and empowerment of the poorest in development, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, and for engagement by the bank group in fragile and conflict-afflicted states must be key elements in the strategic framework.”The Development Committee session followed a meeting of the bank’s sister institution the International Monetary Fund.In a lecture sponsored by the IMF, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, warned that rising protectionism could undermine the ability of America to deal with large deficits. “If the pernicious drift toward fiscal instability in the United States and elsewhere is not arrested and is compounded by a protectionist reversal of globalization, the current account deficit adjustment process could be quite painful for the United States and our trading partners,” he said.At a news conference the bank’s new president, Robert Zoellick, and the head of the IMF, Rodrigo de Rato, said they were exploring ways the fund could start the ball rolling on reducing debt for Liberia. “This is a country that is helping itself and deserves to be helped by the international community,” Mr. de Rato said.In February, America forgave $358 million that Liberia, a West African country emerging from civil war, owed the country and pushed for further action at the IMF-World Bank meetings. Liberia’s inherited debt to international institutions totals $1.6 billion, including $740 million to the IMF. Its total international debt is $3.7 billion.The World Bank should further strengthen its work as a knowledge broker on development policy while continuing its existing lending activities, the development committee said.Countries that are bank clients, the committee said, should sharpen their focus on poverty reduction strategies “on stronger, shared private-sector led growth to link these strategies better to budgetary frameworks and to implement them effectively.”The bank also should help developing countries deal with the causes and impacts of climate change.The members of the committee welcomed the commitment by the bank’s new president, Robert Zoellick to develop a new strategy for the bank in consultation with the banks’s 24-member executive board.Mr. Zoellick, who took over as head of the bank July 1, has called on America and other developed countries to “translate their words from summit declarations into serious numbers” and contribute to the bank branch that makes low interest loans to poor countries. He hopes to raise $33 billion by early 2008.He said South Africa had already set a good standard by pledging a 30% boost in its contribution to the loan facility.

Global Economic Growth Is Strong, World Bank Says

Global Economic Growth Is Strong, World Bank Says

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