Politics
World Bank On Fact Finding Mission In PNG
Why there's more poverty despite bank's efforts
The World Bank Country manager in Papua New Guinea, Mahesh Sharma has begun a process aimed at finding out why the bank's programmes aimed at alleviating poverty in the country and other developing nations are not working.
He agreed to suggestions from scholars at the University of Papua New Guinea that there is more evidence of poverty in developing countries despite the bank's programmes aimed at reducing poverty.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
 |
|
|
One of the aims of the World Bank Group is to "work for a world free of poverty by helping people in the poorest nations".
But it seems this has not been achieved in spite of efforts, and the World Bank wants to find out from Papua New Guinea why this is not happening.
"I want you to tell me what we (World Bank) are doing is not right and how we can improve on the delivery mechanisms to achieve development and reduce poverty," Sharma said while addressing a seminar at the university.
He was guest speaker at the seminar titled "The Role of the Bank in the Global Poverty Agenda" hosted by the Melanesian and Pacific Studies (MAP), a research centre of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Papua New Guinea.
He said poverty is everywhere, both in developed and developed countries and will continue to remain in spite of the many efforts to eradicate or minimise it.
"There is no simple answer or solution to the problem," he added.
According to Sharma, many questions have been asked and concerns raised about the World Bank's attempts to alleviate poverty in developing countries through a number of funded programmes which have failed to achieve results.
This is why interaction is important with learned societies.
For Papua New Guinea more particularly, he intends to visit the University of Papua New Guinea more often to create some kind of dialogue and try to learn about the country and its diverse indigenous communities and cultures and their different ways of doing things. In this way, the bank may explore and adopt more appropriate mechanisms of working with communities through the government to achieve development.
Scholars and students raised concerns that developing countries including Papua New Guinea continue to borrow more money to fund development projects and in the long term alleviate poverty. But in doing so, nations are pushed to the brink of bankruptcy as their debts to the World Bank continue to accumulate without achieving any results.
Sharma said the bank is open to suggestions from individuals and groups in this regard.
He urged Papua New Guinean elites to tell him what the bank is doing wrong and what can be done to solve these problems.
He said it is a common concern in many developing countries that the bank is forcing nations into debt and this is why suggestions are encouraged from Papua New Guinea.
In doing so, he said, "we will narrow down and find out what is really wrong".
He also questioned whether the PNG Government can continue to maintain its vast civil service which absorbs more than half of its annual budget, and if it is justifiable for the government to continue to borrow money from the bank to pay their salaries while spending less on development projects.
He also cautioned why government-owned business entities cannot operate on profits to help the country out and minimise borrowings.
"You tell me what can be done about this," he said while agreeing to suggestions that rural communities are not seeing development in real terms, while the government continues to borrow money to maintain its large civil service which is concentrated in urban areas.
Sharma expressed his intention to get specifics on how things should be done for the benefit of all citizens. This can only happen with suggestions from scholars and other individuals.
