GFDD and FUNGLODE to Participate in the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group

On April 19 – 21, GFDD and FUNGLODE were in attendance of the 2013 Spring Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group that took place in Washington DC. The Foundations’ specific interest was the Civil Society Forum in which they actively participated from April 17-21.

In the course of the Forum, we met with Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, and Jin-Yong Cai, Executive Vice
President and CEO of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), both extremely interesting individuals and accomplished professionals, particularly Dr. Kim, who as a physician possesses impressive knowledge of Latin America.

This year theme of the meetings, the eradication of extreme poverty across the globe, brought together a large number of international institutions, banks, research centres for development, civil society and the public sector. The meetings in
general and Forum in particular went intense in discussion and exchange of experience amongst different stakeholders. In her presentation, Nancy Birdsall, President of the Center for Global Development, made a distinct statement that the goal of decreasing by 3% the number of people who live on US$1.25 per day by 2030 is, from various perspectives, “unambitious and a very modest objective.” Many of the 1.2 billion people who currently live in extreme poverty own land but
do not own goods or assets. According to the World Bank’s records since 2008, the percentage of population living in extreme poverty has fallen in all regions of the world.

Furthermore, Dr. Kim came out very optimistic providing that the main target of the Millennium Development Goals was reached five years ahead of the planned agenda when in 2010 the percentage of the poverty index dropped from 43% in 1990 to 21% in 2010. To illustrate, improvements are obvious
in China, Brazil and Mexico where poverty rates have decreased by the direct investment in the poor.

Along with some testimonials from the participated organizations and questions under discussion covered at the Forum, we have included some presentations that are critical to the policies of the World Bank Group, and which call for a comprehensive renovation of its lending policies that go far beyond pressing for the adoption of “mechanisms that measure
performance in order to improve the impact,” with assessments, social franchising strategies and a comprehensive reform of the relationship with the private sector. As an example of such a discussion, attached are the presentations on the Eurozone crisis, delivered by Mark Weisbrot, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and Prakash Loungani, Advisor, the International Monetary Fund Research Department.

About the Civil Society
Forum
The Civil Society Forum is held within the framework of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank aiming to bring together IMF and WBG staff, CSO representatives, government officials, academics, and others to discuss global economy, international development and the world’s financial markets.

View Presentations:
Center for Economic and Policy Research
by Mark Weisbrot
Advisor, Research Department, IMF Co-Chair, Jobs & Growth Working Group, IMF
by Prakash Loungani

Related Links:

• Schedule: http://web.worldbank.org/
• Center for Global Development:  http://www.cgdev.org/
• The Bank Information Center:   http://www.bicusa.org/
• Bretton Woods Project:   http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/