World bank, IMF to meet poor countries, donors

A four-day conference begins in Washington on January 14 to bring together officials from poor countries, administrators from donor agencies and representatives from civil society from the North and South to dialogue on global poverty and learn from each other.

A statement issued in Accra on Friday by the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the meeting was being held under the auspices of the two Bretton Woods institutions. The convener of the meeting is Ghanaian Gobind Nankani, Vice-President of the World Bank.

It said officials to represent Ghana would be from the Ministries of Finance, Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation as well as civil society participants from as Save the Children's Fund and ISODEC.

The statement said views of those who had participated in the formulation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) in particular would be heard. It said certain themes had emerged from a series of consultations around the globe over the past few months.

"When the Executive Boards of the Bank and the Fund finally convene in March to consider current trends in the fight against poverty and the home grown efforts of various developing countries in mainstreaming poverty reduction through the PRSP processes, there are a number of key questions they will need to address.

"For Example, have the participatory processes established by national governments met their objective? Are new approaches to poverty reduction moving in the right direction?"

The statement said the Ghana government was preparing its own PRSP as a basis for future assistance from the Bank and Fund. It said an interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper was considered by the Boards of the Bank and Fund in August 2000 and found to be a good basis for developing the full PRSP.

It said the draft Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy contained policies based on macroeconomic stability, agricultural and rural development, governance and public sector reforms, including decentralisation, equitable access to health and education services and protection of the vulnerable.