World Bank lends Panama $55 million for efficiency programs

Panamá, viernes 11 de marzo de 2011
World Bank lends Panama $55 million for efficiency programs

The World Bank has approved a loan of $55 million to Panama to improve the "efficiency" of its public sector, banking officials announced Thursday.

The loan, funded over 25 years, will seek "to improve the efficiency of the Panamanian public sector." The money will be used to help the government implement efficiency programs and prepare budgets.

"The objective is to assist public bodies of Panama in the production, use and dissemination of information that is timely and performance-based," said Felipe Jaramillo, director of the World Bank for Central America.

"These efforts should lead to a more efficient, transparent and accountable use of public funds," he added.

http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2011/03/11/hoy/english/economy_6519.asp

~~~~~
Adios, World Bank!
Nadia Martinez
May 09, 2007

~snip~
Breaking the Debt Ties

Since its creation over 60 years ago, the World Bank has provided trillions of dollars in loans to poor countries. In Latin America, in recent years World Bank financing –though diminishing—accounts for about 20 percent of multilateral lending, excluding loans to the private sector as well as political insurance and guarantees extended by its private sector and insurance arms. In addition to providing financial resources, the World Bank—along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—took the lead in making policy prescriptions to poor governments, which it ensures are adopted by making them “conditions” for lending. Throughout the developing world, debt seriously hinders countries’ abilities to provide for the basic needs of their citizens, and imposed “conditionality” interferes with governments’ rights to make sovereign decisions.

At the same time, persistent poverty in Latin America has barely budged. A report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that poverty and inequality in Latin America increased between 1980 and 2005, when compared with the prior 20-year period. The United Nations’ Economic Commission on Latin America drew similar conclusions. Their figures show that between 1960 and 1980, per capita income in Latin America experienced an 82 percent increase in real terms, whereas between 1980 and 2000 it only grew by 9 percent.

As a result, there has been a clear backlash to the disastrous financial failure of the neo-liberal, “Washington Consensus” economic model, promoted and often imposed by institutions such as the World Bank in the last two decades. In 2006, presidential elections were held in 12 Latin American countries. In six of them, the left-wing candidates won and in another four, left parties made considerable progress. Economic policy was a dominant theme in all of the election campaigns. Candidates who were critical of the conservative, pro-business, free market economic policies of their predecessors fared much better than supporters of the Washington-favored status quo.

For example, countries like Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela have made efforts to break themselves free from the debt chains that tie them to these financial culprits. In April, Venezuela announced that it was paying off all its outstanding debt with the World Bank—totaling $3.3 billion and dating from before President Hugo Chavez took office in (1999)—five years ahead of schedule. Venezuelan Minister of Finance Rodrigo Cabezas said that because of this, “Venezuela is free ... and thank God, neither today’s Venezuelans nor children yet to be born will owe one single cent to those organizations.” Later that month, in the wake of the Wolfowitz scandal, President Chavez declared that Venezuela was withdrawing its membership in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Likewise, Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador have paid off their debts to the World Bank’s sister institution—the IMF—and others have expressed a desire to do the same. Symbolically, Venezuela’s recent decision could help strengthen the efforts of other developing countries seeking reform at the World Bank by demonstrating to the institution that choosing not to be part of it is a real option.

More:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/05/09/adios_world_bank.php

http://www.democraticunderground.com.nyud.net:8090/top10/07/277_wolfowitz-comb1.jpg

http://www.democraticunderground.com.nyud.net:8090/top10/07/277_wolfowitz-comb2.jpg

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http://www.democraticunderground.com.nyud.net:8090/top10/07/277_wolfowitz-comb5.jpg

Former World Bank President illustrates emegency grooming techniques
for the "little man" with messy hair, caught away from better facilities.

I had almost forgotten how gross that image was. Sums up a whole movement though.

Meanwhile it is good to see that as a progressive your still ridicule people based on appearance.