Justin Pearce
World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)=20 development blueprints have been lambasted by a report=20 released by the development agency Oxfam.=20
The report says the World Bank and IMF schemes,=20 introduced in the early 1980s to promote economic=20 recovery, deepen the cycle of poverty endured by the=20 citizens of developing countries.
The Oxfam Poverty Report, which has been released to=20 coincide with the 50th anniversary of the United=20 Nations, also criticises the UN as being ineffective in=20 its mission to eradicate the problems faced by the=20 world at the end of World War II.
The report’s harshest criticism is levelled at the=20 Structural Adjustment Programmes which the World Bank,=20 the IMF and many foreign donors impose on developing=20 countries as a precondition for loans or donations.=20
The programmes involve reductions in government=20 spending, with disastrous consequences for the quality=20 of social services such as education and health=20 services in the country affected.
Zimbabwe, for example, suffered a one-third reduction=20 in per capita spending on primary health and basic=20 education between 1990 and 1993 as a result of=20 structural adjustment. Zambia’s education budget=20 declined to its lowest-ever level in 1993 for the same=20