IS THE WORLD BANK HELPING DEVELOP THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES?

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries and countries in transition, while third world countries refer to developing countries or minority groups in a predominant culture. The Bank is mostly funded by developed countries and they benefit from some interest  loans given to the developing countries or they gain market for their manufactured goods on which the borrowed money is usually spent on. The Bank claims it's main goal is to reduce poverty among it's member countries, and it has majorly done this by issuing loans to the poorer member countries. The Bank usually funds the construction and development of infrastructure, agriculture and health facilities in such countries so that they can be able to pay back the debt. However, research done by the Heritage Foundation shows that,

·         Of the 66 developing countries receiving money from the World Bank for more than 25 years, 37 are no better off today than they were before they received such loans.

·         20 of these 37 countries actually are poorer today than they were before receiving aid from the Bank. For example Zambia, a country which after gaining independence in 1964 had a relatively healthy domestic economy based on the export of copper and the production of metal. After starting to receive loans from the World Bank, Zambia’s economy was later liberalized which dramatically increased public debt. When Zambia failed to secure another agreement with the World Bank in 1987, the World Bank withdrew its aid.

·         In the past 30 years, most former less developed countries became developed mainly after gaining “economic freedom” from the World Bank. Examples of such countries include: Singapore and Hong Kong.

Therefore, the World Bank arguments about doing away with poverty in third world countries are contradictory to the results that are being obtained one wonders why?

 Works cited

"End Poverty, Boost Shared Prosperity." World Bank Group. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2013. <http://www.worldbank.org/>.

TheFreeDictionary. FARLEX, n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2013.

<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Third-world+country>.

"The Successes and Failures of the World Bank on Global Poverty." EInternational Relations RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2013.

 <http://www.e-ir.info/2011/05/18/the-successes-and-failures-of-the-world-bank-on-global-poverty/>.

"The Heritage Foundation." The Heritage Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2013. <http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1996/05/bg1082nbsp-the-world-bank-and-economic-growth>.