The Christian Science Monitor writes that in dollar terms, the World Bank is more mouse than mammoth.
Annually, it lends some 20 billion US dollar to developing countries. That is not even a third of the 68 billion dollar that rich nations doled out in foreign aid in 2003. So what makes the World Bank so special?
Despite its modest resources, it still ranks as a leading player because of where it invests. Its loans and grants are concentrated in the poorer nations, increasingly in Africa, that are often not attractive to private investors.
Lately, all this money has helped boost growth in developing countries to a record level. Their economies grew at an average rate of 6,6 percent last year, according to the banks annual Global Development Finance Report.
More important, private enterprises have started to thrive in many poor nations. But economic challenges remain. The same report, for example, warns that ballooning global imbalances, especially the 666 billion dollar US current account deficit, could put at risk the solid economic gains of developing countries.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
