[00:08.20]Protests have been taking place this week in Washington
[00:13.45]against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
[00:19.10]Major actions are planned Sunday and Monday.
[00:24.11]The aim is to stop the meeting of finance ministers
[00:29.47]and central bank officials at the I-M-F and World Bank headquarters.
[00:35.79]A coalition of several hundred groups hoped to bring
[00:40.80]as many as 20,000 protesters to Washington.
[00:45.43]These groups protested at the meeting of the World Trade Organization
[00:51.28]in Seattle last year.
[00:54.91]The potesters say the I-M-F and World Bank are hurting people in poorf
[01:02.12]developing countries.The protesters want the organizations to cut the huge amount
[01:09.46]of money owed by these countries.
[01:13.20]They say the money saved on debt payments
[01:18.45]could be used for health care,education and protection of the environment.
[01:25.26]The United States and its allies created the International Monetary Fund
[01:32.42]and the World Bank after World War Two.
[01:37.28]Most of the countries in the world are members.
[01:41.41]The two organizations control thousands of millions of dollars in assistance
[01:48.33]The I-M-F and the World Bank have a close relationship
[01:54.36]but different responskbilities.
[01:57.71]The main job of the International Monetary Fund
[02:03.06]is to support world economic growth.
[02:07.19]The I-M-F provides money to help countries
[02:12.15]deal with short-term difficulties.
[02:15.89]These loans often come with unpopular demands for economic changes.
[02:22.52]I-M-F officials also also advise on financial policy.
[02:28.66]The World Bank provides loans to governments and private organizationsThe World Bank provides loans to governments and private organizations
[02:35.87]for development projects.
[02:39.61]These include projects to develop transportation,health and education systems
[02:46.77]The World Bank is the leading provider of development assistance.
[02:52.90]It also makes loans to restructure national economic systems.
[02:59.33]Protest organizers say the I-M-F and the World Bank represent
[03:06.54]the interests of big business and the very rich.
[03:11.40]And,they say these organizations defend
[03:15.74]the interests of major industrial countries.
[03:19.86]Many officials at the Washington meetings agree
[03:25.90]that the debts of the poorest countries should be cancelled.
[03:30.91]However,the issue is not so simple.
[03:36.16]The World Bank and other lenders say they need to berepaid in some way
[03:43.90]so they can make future loans.
[03:47.84]Also,creditors do not want governments to take the money saved
[03:54.61]from debt forgiveness and use it for military purposes or bad investments.
[04:01.95]Last year,industrial nations agreed to cancel up to 29,000,000,000 dollars
[04:11.59]of debt owed by as many as forty-one countries.
[04:17.02]So far,only three--Bolivia,Mauritania and Uganda
[04:24.67]have received major reductions.
[04:28.23]World Bank President James Wolfensohn says the bank
[04:34.86]hopes to have 60,000,000,000 dollars of debt
[04:40.11]from twenty countries cancelled by the end of this year.
[04:45.96]And,he says he believes the protests like those in Washington
[04:51.81]show concerns about the changing world economy. |