1. The World Bank Training Session 27 feb 2015

2. Roadmap General facts How does it work? Goals The Washington Consensus(reforms)+criticism Free Trade basics Failure examples Successes examples

3. The World Bank General facts: Financial institution of the UN Based in Washington, DC 188 countries are members Gets its money off financial markets/from member countries It is part of the ‘World Bank Group’ World Bank Group International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) International Development Association (IDA) International Finance Corporation (IFC) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

4. The World Bank What does it offer? Loans Guarantees Risk management products Analytical and advisory services Examples of borrowers: Argentina, Chile, Belarus, Botswana, Brazil, Jamaica, Ecuador, Vietnam etc. Countries by voting power: 1.USA-also veto power 2.Japan 3.China 4.Germany 5.France 6.UK 7.India

5. The World Bank Goals: Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger Achieving universal primary education Promoting gender equality and empowering women Reducing child mortality rates Improving maternal health Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases Ensuring environmental sustainability, and Developing a global partnership for development.

6. The World Bank Often, in return for the loans, the World Bank demands of the recipient to put in place certain reforms such as: Austerity Devaluation of currencies Trade liberalisation (lifting import and export restrictions) Removing price controls and states subsidies Improving governance and fighting corruption

7. The World Bank Criticism: Regressive conditions(shock therapy criticism) Lack of institutional framework to apply the reforms Majoritary decisional power held by the USA Unfair conditions(e.g. Ghana, Tanzania, Iraq) Sovereign immunity Requires certain level of government to implement reforms-this is simply not in place Reforms too concentrated on GDP growth rather than quality of living of the people

8. The World Bank More on Trade Liberalisation (useful in general)-make sure you take into account the stage the economy is in when you impact these arguments Good stuff: Enables specialisation(comparative advantage) Lower prices for consumers(resources imported cheaper  lower costs  lower prices) Increased competition between firms  efficiency Enables economies of scale

9. The World Bank More on Trade Liberalisation (useful in general) Bad stuff: Structural unemployment short run(shift between industries). Hard for people to specialise in new industries. Environmental harm(if legislation if poor) Uncompetitive economies are at a disadvantage(protectionism required) Dependability of international markets  increased risk

10. The World Bank Failures: Brazil – road building project set a significant proportion of the Amazon on fire Latin American Crisis and default of Mexico(1982) East Timor Failed to relaunch education and medical sectors Urged country to save a large part of petroleum revenues Poverty rose significantly until the state decided to go against the Bank’s advice

11. The World Bank Successes: Rural water project in Kerala(south-west of India)  women don’t have to walk hours to get water. State has now dependable supply of running water. Diseaster management programs in Vietnam or Bangladesh

12. The World Bank Motions that have come up: THBT the IMF and the World Bank should not make debt relief for highly indebted poor countries conditional on trade liberalization THBT The World Bank and Other Bilateral Donors Should Tie Developmental Aid to Investment in Agriculture THW Substantially Reduce the IMF and World Bank Lending Programmes THBT The World Bank chairs should be selected on a rotational regional basis