| The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, on Saturday sought support from developed as well as emerging economies for the development of the world’s poorest nations.“When I see rich countries or so-called advanced economies cutting in aid lines, I do not believe they are doing the right thing, even if I can understand that they have to consolidate their own fiscal sustainability.“Advanced economies have to do what they are committed to do,” IMF Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, told reporters at the end of the two-day bi-annual meeting of IMF and the World Bank.He said that the development needs of the world’s poorest nations were not forgotten by world leaders, despite the fact that the meeting was flooded with other hot issues.World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, called for a “strong” replenishment to the International Development Association (IDA), the Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries.Lack of support to IDA would devastate the effort to try to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), he said.“IDA is fundamental to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), he said.The MDGs are eight international development goals that all UN member states have agreed to achieve by 2015. MDGs include eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting diseases like AIDS.Zoellick also said that it is critical not to see these goals as independent.“I think our challenge is that at a time of budget stress, we need to put together what I have referred to as the coalition, to be able to show that we have got everybody contributing, and I think we are on the way to doing that, but it is going to require continuing push.”India’s Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, in his address to IMF-WG meet also said “It is quite worrying that the Bank’s annual lending will come down to a maximum of $15 billion from next year onwards.“We need strong multilateral buffers to face future crises,Cheap Jerseys China, play a counter-cyclical role and help maintain development expenditures. For this, we need to quickly focus on further expanding the Bank’s lending capacity through innovative measures. This may even require further capital enhancement.”In his address, Mukherjee also called on the need to increase private inflows.“If we really want to have money for development, there are many ways to find the resources, including increasing taxes if there is a political will to do it, but then it is easier to increase existing taxes than to rely on the potential levy which is not still in the place,” Zoellick said.“The risk is that it takes so much time to have it that finally you will never get the money for the goal you are looking at,” Strauss-Kahn said in response to a question. |
