World Bank president James Wolfensohn yesterday said that stabilisation measures alone would not arrest the ongoing global meltdown. Instead, he proposed an agenda of governance and social justice as well as corporate and financial sector reforms in his address on the opening day of the annual meetings.
Wolfensohn also called for initiatives to recast the existing global financial architecture. "The problems are too big, their consequences too important, to be guided by the pat answers of the past or the fads and ideologies of the day. We must make collective commitment to join together to build something better," he said.
"If we do not have the capacity to deal with social emergencies, if we do not have longer-term plans for solid institutions, if we do not have greater equity and social justice, there will be no political stability and without political stability no amount of money put together in financial packages will give us financial stability," he said.
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The World Bank president told the gathering that the Bank had already embarked on a new total approach towards development that would take the Bretton Wood institution beyond projects and into partnership with government and civil society, including the private sector.
According to him, this will enable the Bank to pursue the social and structural priorities need to champion sustainable development. "Poverty reduction is at the heart of the Bank's mission," he said.
Wolfensohn argued that without sustainability, social and economic transformation cannot last.
"We have learnt that when we ask governments to take the painful steps to put their economies in order, we create tension. It is people, not governments, that feel pain...we must learn to have a debate where mathematics will not dominate humanity," he added.
On the social side, he claimed that loan portfolios had been restructured to respond to the needs of poor communities more quickly.
He said priority programmes were in place to keep children in school, create jobs and social safety nets, maintain supplies of food and vital medicines to the sick and ensure health and education programmes are sustained.
Wolfensohn layed down the new development framework that has five guiding principles:
* The framework will outline the essentials of good governance;
* It will specify the regulatory and institutional fundamentals essential to a workable market economy;
* It will call for policies that foster inclusion of education for all, healthcare, social protection and early childhood development;
* It will lay down the public services and infrastructure necessary for communications and transport;
* It will set out objectives to ensure environmental and human sustainability that is essential to develop long-term success.