EuropaWorld 6/10/2000 NGOs remain critical of World Bank /IMF after Prague meetings

Oxfam spokesman, Seth Amgott, cautioned this week against reading too much into recent talks between the World Bank and NGOs. “Talking to the IMF is not a goal in itself” he said. “Co-operation between the IMF, World Bank and NGOs must be analysed in terms of actual results.”

Oxfam acknowledged that the World Bank/IMF leaders had shown signs of commitment to poverty alleviation, according to AP reports but other activists viewed the meetings as a failure because of the inability of the institutions to make meaningful progress on debt relief. Lucy Mathews of the pro-debt relief NGO Jubilee 2000 is reported by IPS as saying “We are very disappointed with the outcomes of the meetings because, yet again, the creditors made absolutely no progress in debt relief at all despite overwhelming evidence that HIPC (current initiative on debt relief) is failing.”

For his part World Bank President James Wolfensohn said that co-operation between the bank, the IMF, the private sector, religious organisations and trade unions would be necessary in the future. However, they were co-operating with more and more NGOs. “I think we have something to learn, but from time to time we have something to teach,” he said.

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