World Bank Chief blasts rich nations for record on Poverty & Overseas Development Aid by James Wolfensohn 10:48am 6th May, 2004   May 5, 2004    World Bank Chief blasts rich nations for record on Poverty & Overseas Development Aid    World Bank President James Wolfensohn rebuked rich nations Monday for failing to make good on their publicized statements to support causes such as poverty and aid, urging nations to address such issues with the same urgency as rebuilding Iraq or Afghanistan.    Speaking at the opening of the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, Wolfensohn said none of the Group of Eight industrialized nations — the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada and Russia — spent a targeted 0.7 percent of their gross national income on foreign aid.  According to Wolfensohn, governments spent $900 billion on defense but provided only $60 billion for aid, a fraction of which is cash.    "It is the rich countries which go through every year a sort of shadow play at the G8 meeting when Sherpas [senior bureaucrats who set the agendas for summit meetings for their host countries] come around to try and see what it is that can be highlighted that won't cost a lot of money, but which will get a headline," he said, adding, "and I'm not joking about this."    Wolfensohn further urged rich nations to treat questions of poverty and development on equal footing with rebuilding Iraq or Afghanistan.  "The issue of development and poverty is as important and urgent as the question of Iraq, as the question of Afghanistan or Gaza," he said, taking a jab at the United States, the bank's biggest shareholder.    Rich nations have fallen short on their commitments to poverty and development due to a lack of leadership in these areas, he said.     The bank is charged with leading the global fight against poverty.  Recent World Bank statistics said poverty fell sharply in developing countries in the past 20 years, but huge disparities remain.  The statistics, released April 23, said the proportion of people worldwide living on less than $1 a day dropped from 40 percent between 1981-2001 to 21 percent (Reuters, May 3).
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