By JORGE E. BANALES
WASHINGTON, April 14 (UPI) -- Representatives of the Bretton Woods Committee, the parent organization of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, staunchly defended Friday the policies and practices of these institutions and said their critics in the streets have 'the wrong target."
John William Sewell, president of the Overseas Development Council stated that though he shares the protesters' "deep concern about the forces of globalization," he said that, "while they've got the issue right, they've got the wrong target."
Thousands of opponents of the policies of the IMF and the World Bank are expected to carry out demonstrations the weekend in Washington during the organizations' annual spring meetings.
They say the policies of these institutions have hurt the environment. Critics also want the IMF and the World Bank to be more transparent so that their meetings and resolutions are more public and poorer countries have a greater say. They also want the debt of third world countries canceled.
They say that the IMF's structural adjustment programs (SAPs) -- drastic cuts in government expenditures, currency devaluations, privatization and the opening of national markets to foreign investment and trade -- have caused widespread unemployment, social upheaval, devastation of local industries and corruption.
"Why do I think they've got the wrong target?" said Sewell. "I consider that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are absolutely essential, both to promote development in the world in the coming years and to U.S. national interest."
"The right target for demonstrators who are in Washington this weekend are part of the U.S. government, and certainly the U.S. Congress," Sewell said. "Because the drag in terms of American policy has been in Congressional attention to these issues and particularly for providing the financing not only for low income country debt relief but financing for our overall international affairs budget."
"For the global protesters the key issues are really the structure of pension reform, social security in the United States, what kind of health care system we have and what are our education needs for the 21st century."
Former congressman Bill Frenzel, co-chairman of the Bretton Woods Committee, in response to protester allegations that the IMF and the World Bank are making the rich countries richer and the poor countries poorer and that these institutions should be eliminated, Frenzel said, "We believe that the contrary is true."
"We believe those three organizations (the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO) have contributed to the greatest improvement in any 50-year period in the world's history of the human condition," he said.
Nicaraguan Ambassdor to the United States, Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa, said although he had no quarrel with the protesters said he was "very much mystified" by the "disconnect" between the issues of poverty, debt relief, inequality and environmental degradation and the demonstrations against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
"Take the question of debt for example," said Aguirre-Sacasa. "The Bretton Woods' institutions developed about four years ago something called the HIPC, the Initiative for Highly indebted poor countries and one of the themes - perhaps one of the most important themes that we are going to be discussing at the spring meetings at the Bank and the Fund -- is how we can speed up access to poor countries to HIPC."
He asked how can demonstrators be saying they're against debt while at the same time be trying to sabotage a meeting that deals with debt relief.
He said that in the last decade the World Bank has been at in the forefront, among international agencies, in trying to stop environmental degradation.
"The Bank works very closely with developing countries like Nicaragua and the serious NGO's like the World Wildlife Federation and the Nature Conservancy, to try to put environment on the agenda of countries like Nicaragua."
He said that the Bank has helped Nicaragua with concerns regarding social security and retirement for low and middle income citizens."
"Trade and free trade is a win-win situation for developing countries and the developed countries," said the Nicaraguan ambassador. "It is the single most important avenue for us, in Latin America and Central America, to be able to develop ourselves, to be able to export our way out of poverty, to provide jobs and at the same time to import more from the U.S."
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were founded near the end of World War II.
The World Bank makes loans and guarantees credit to 177 member countries and finances projects such as roads, power plants, schools, dams and steel mills.
As the lender of last resort to many nations, the IMF provides its 182 member countries loans to pay for balance-of-payment problems.
Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved.:
