mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-10-01 01:15:38 -04:00
47 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
47 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
World Bank
|
|||
|
|
--------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
A specialized agency of the United Nations, the World Bank (officially, the
|
|||
|
|
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or IBRD) was established,
|
|||
|
|
along with the INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF), by the Bretton Woods Agreement
|
|||
|
|
(1944) to assist European postwar recovery. When this initial role was absorbed
|
|||
|
|
by the Marshall Plan, the focus shifted (1949) to loans and technical assistance
|
|||
|
|
to promote the balanced growth of international trade and economic development,
|
|||
|
|
especially in underdeveloped areas. With its affiliates--the INTERNATIONAL
|
|||
|
|
FINANCE CORPORATION, created in 1956, and the INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
|
|||
|
|
ASSOCIATION, founded in 1960--the World Bank Group has become the single most
|
|||
|
|
important lending agency in international development.
|
|||
|
|
By 1983, membership consisted of 146 nations, including China, which replaced
|
|||
|
|
Taiwan in 1980. Most loans are made to member governments, but if a member will
|
|||
|
|
guarantee repayment, loans can be arranged for private firms. Funds from loans
|
|||
|
|
are used to support a variety of long-range projects in such fields as energy,
|
|||
|
|
agriculture, and transportation. From 1973 to 1982 loans increased from $3.4
|
|||
|
|
billion to $13 billion annually. Of the $13 billion in loans dispersed in 1982,
|
|||
|
|
23.7% was used for agriculture, 22.3% for energy, and 12.4% for transportation.
|
|||
|
|
Terms of the loans have ranged from near-commercial rates, lent by the Bank
|
|||
|
|
itself, to zero-interest loans, lent to the poorest countries by the IDA, with
|
|||
|
|
payment due within 10 to 40 years. In the late 1970s the Bank's lending policy
|
|||
|
|
changed from funding development projects aimed at helping a particular economic
|
|||
|
|
sector of a country to financing broad economic reform.
|
|||
|
|
The technical assistance program of the Bank works in two ways: it helps set up
|
|||
|
|
a project that may secure a loan, and it then aids recipients in utilizing the
|
|||
|
|
loan when it is granted. When members request a mission to survey their
|
|||
|
|
economies, other international organizations may be brought in; for example, the
|
|||
|
|
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) added its own personnel to the Bank's
|
|||
|
|
missions to assist in agricultural and irrigation projects. With headquarters in
|
|||
|
|
Washington, D.C., the Bank is run by a president and a board of governors who
|
|||
|
|
meet annually to determine policies. Decisions on loans are made by the
|
|||
|
|
executive directors (20), who meet monthly. Voting on loans is weighted
|
|||
|
|
according to members' contributions (capital subscription), and therefore the
|
|||
|
|
organization is controlled by the wealthier nations. Recent presidents of the
|
|||
|
|
World Bank include Robert MCNAMARA, A. W. CLAUSEN, and Barber Conable. JOHN G.
|
|||
|
|
STOESSINGER
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bibliography: Heilbroner, Robert L., This Growing World: Economic Development
|
|||
|
|
and the World Bank Group, rev. ed. (1966); Mason, E. S., and Asher, R. E., The
|
|||
|
|
World Bank since Bretton Woods (1973); Reid, Escott, Strengthening the World
|
|||
|
|
Bank (1973); Van de Laar, J. M., The World Bank and the World's Poor (1976).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
973); Reid, Escott, Strengthening the Worl
|