World Bank & IMF & Sub Saharan Economics

This research assesses the strategy and activities of The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with respect to SubSaharan African economic development. The policies of The World Bank have been characterized as everything from a new source of revealed wisdom to a recipe for starvation (Green, and Allison, 1983), while those of the IMF have been consistently criticized (Carvounis, 1984). It is necessary to consider both The World Bank and the IMF in this assessment, because their strategies and activities tend to either complement one another with respect to SubSaharan African economic development, or, in combined effect, exacerbate an already bad situation in this region.

The impetus for the creation of an organization such as the IMF was provided by events which wracked the international economy from 1929 to the beginning of the Second World War (Horsefield, 1969). In attempts to maintain domestic economic stability and to retain international market positions, most countries engaged in competitive devaluations, exchange control activities, and imports restriction (Driscoll, 1984). The origins of the IMF, thus, may be traced to an international

1 2recognition of the debilitating character of such activities, and of the need to establish some sort of mechanism through which international economic stability could be both created and maintained (Heller, 1990).

Work toward the creation of such a me

Related Essays

A Critical Overview of the and the World Bank .... in many Third World countries (particularly those in ....-Saharan Africa) in .... When will economics guide .... and World Bank reforms? .... World Bank/.... Fact Sheet. .... (3227 13 )

Foreign Aid to Alleviate Third World Poverty INTRODUCT .... Rational pricing, in the jargon of economics, refers to realistic, market value pricing. .... 8 In Sub Saharan Africa, the ..../World Bank programs have .... (3448 14 )

External Debt Repayment Policy .... in the central region of Sub Saharan Africa. .... International Monetary Fund and The World Bank), and by .... not, conditions established by the .... emphasize measures .... (2111 8 )

erminated. The deemphasis of gold as a payment and reserve medium was accompanied by an increased role for IMF special drawing rights (SDRs) for these purposes. The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF, which is allocated to member countries in proportion to their position in the organization's total assets (Chandavarkar, 1984). Each country's position in the organization's fund is determined by its quota, which is agreed upon internationally. The quota must be paid to the IMF by each nation as follows: 25.0 percent in gold, and 75.0 percent in the nation's own currency. Both fund position and voting power within the IMF are determined by a nation's quota. Initially, the currency exchange regulating activities of the IMF were supplemented by limited loans to member nations for balance of payments support. Over the years, the organizazation's loan activities, together with those of The World Bank, have assumed an ever greater role within the IMF/World Bank activity matrix, and since 1978, have become the prime activity of the two organizations. Since 1963, several special facilities have been estab lished to supplement standby authority loans. These special facilities are as follows: 1. The

Category: Economics - W