| Headline: Opinion - Has the World Bank lost its way? Au contraire... Source: Euromoney Date: March 2000 Author: Joanne Salop The World Bank is under attack. Its critics (such as Adam Lerrick in Euromoney, December 1999) complain that it has no special credit analysis skills that qualify it to lend to the developing world, that it has largely been superseded by the capital markets and that it has failed to recognize this reality. Behind the attacks lies clear resentment among many American politicians at continued funding for the Bank. But the critics are wrong, argues World Bank vice president Joanne Salop A recent article by Adam Lerrick, "Has the World Bank lost its way?" (Euromoney, December 1999), questioned the role of World Bank lending to emerging market economies and called for the Bank to be more knowledge-based and geared to helping countries build the enabling environment for productive private sector investment. We share much of Lerrick's vision about the World Bank group's future role in the developing world. We fully agree, for example, that delivering knowledge and advice to clients is central to tackling global poverty. Thus the "New Bank" created by World Bank president James Wolfensohn increasingly emphasizes this role. |