World Bank denies imposing policies on poor countries

Accra, Sept. 1, GNA - Contrary to the widely spread notion that

the Breton Woods Institutions impose inimical policies on


governments of poor countries as conditions for giving them aid,


the World Bank (WB), on Monday denied ever imposing any


policies on poor countries. Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili, WB Vice President for Africa, asked


African journalists from about 20 African countries during a video


press conference to turn their attention to the policy choices of their

governments instead of suspecting the WB and other donors of


inimical policy impositions. "It is not our practice at the World Bank to impose policies in


countries and we have never done that," she said. She noted that last year alone the WB gave out 5.4 billion US


dollars as aid to poor countries and had earmarked to deliver 7.2


billions US by the close of this year, adding that none of this money


came with inimical policy impositions. "It has always been the policy of the WB to support the

development programmes of the governments of the countries it


supports to ensure that those governments are in the driving seat as


required by the March 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid


Effectiveness," she said. Ms Ezekwesili said the media in Africa would be failing their


citizens if they continued to feed the public with the wrong


information that donor nations and multilateral organisations were to

blame for the woes of Africa, when in fact the blame should be put


at the doorstep of the policy choices of their governments. "The African media needs to be more analytical in their


approach to monitoring the factors that determine the level of


development in their countries and ask questions like why so much


money has been invested in education and health for instance and


yet those sectors have not been able to deliver the desired results,"

she said. She said the WB only offered assistance in the areas of technical


and human capacity in the proper management and application of


donor funds to ensure that those funds went to reduce poverty,


increase growth, build capacity and ensure speedy achievement of


the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MORE TMA/REA