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Imf worldbank rebuild iraq Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20030411/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_rebuilding_iraq"World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, two of the institutions that will shoulder much of the financial burden of the rebuilding effort"
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20030411/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_rebuilding_iraq
Yahoo! News Sun, Apr 13, 2003
Middle East - AP
Leaders Say Iraq Needs Quick Rebuilding
Fri Apr 11, 1:04 PM ET
By HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - World financial officials agreed Friday on the need to move as quickly as possible to rebuild Iraq (news - web sites) and expressed hope that arguments over a United Nations (news - web sites) role won't hold things up.
The Bush administration said it was satisfied that both the World Bank (news - web sites) and the International Monetary Fund (news - web sites), two of the institutions that will shoulder much of the financial burden of the rebuilding effort, recognized the urgency in proceeding as quickly as possible.
Treasury Secretary John Snow on Thursday had said he was "baffled" at the World Bank's insistence that it would need United Nations authorization to launch its rebuilding efforts in Iraq.
The insistence on the need for a U.N. authorization for reconstruction to begin mirrored the stance of France and Germany. Those two countries strongly opposed the U.S.-led war and have said that any reconstruction of Iraq needed to be under U.N. supervision and not be controlled by the United States and its coalition partners.
On Thursday, Snow said said he intended to discuss the matter with World Bank President James Wolfensohn in an effort to get him to change his position. However, on Friday, Treasury Department (news - web sites) officials said Snow was now satisfied that both the World Bank and the IMF understood the urgency to proceed rapidly to deal with serious economic problems in the war-torn nation.
Snow "simply believes that the World Bank should and will engage in Iraq as quickly as possible because the needs are great," said Treasury spokesman Tony Fratto.
Now that U.S. forces have extended control over Baghdad and helped secure Iraq's northern oilfields, the administration is anxious to demonstrate with this weekend's finance meetings that the end of President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s rule will bring substantial economic benefit to Iraq.
Both Wolfensohn and IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler told reporters that their agencies are anxious to dispatch fact-finding teams to Iraq to begin assessing the most critical needs for the country, including the delivery of food, water, electricity and medical care.
But officials of the two institutions have said they can only proceed with the proper political mandate, which would come in the form of U.N. resolutions recognizing a new government and removing the economic sanctions that had been imposed on Saddam's regime.
"We have to address health, access to clean water, sanitation and education," said Joseph Saba, the World Bank's director for the region that includes Iraq.
Preliminary estimates on the cost of rebuilding Iraq range from $20 billion a year for the first few years to as much as $600 billion over a decade.
At a briefing previewing talks that was beginning with a dinner Friday of the finance ministers of the Group of Seven wealthy countries, Snow told reporters he would seek support for forgiving a part of Iraq's foreign debt, estimated to be as high as $200 billion,.
"It would be useful to get other ministers' thoughts on just what the size of that debt is and then what sort of process might be appropriate to begin to think about how you deal with the debt," he said.
Koehler, briefing reporters on Thursday, said the "most immediate task which should happen is fact-finding activity so we know what is at stake. I hope I can, with the consent of my board (and) as soon as there is physical security, offer the international community our expertise in fact-finding missions."
The last time an IMF team visited Iraq was in 1983.
Snow also held one-on-one talks on Friday with some of his counterparts from the G-7 nations — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan — before joining Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites) as the hosts for the Friday night dinner.
He said economic growth would be at the top of the G-7's agenda because of the pressing need to achieve higher growth in industrial countries as a cushion as the adverse effects the three-week war has held on the global economy.
"It is particularly important at this time when the world economy is falling far short of its potential, Snow said. "To bring about a strong recovery, each of our countries must act decisively to implement strong policies to spur economic growth."
He said the United States has done its part by "moving quickly and aggressively to ease both monetary and fiscal policy" and the other nations should focus on improving their economies to create broader worldwide demand.
Representatives from developing countries ranging from economic powerhouse Brazil to poverty-ridden African nations such as the Congo and Ethiopia also were meeting Friday at the IMF as the Group of 24.
The IMF-World Bank meetings are expected to attract demonstrators for such causes as debt relief for poor nations and reform of the world economy, but the protests are expected to be much smaller than in the past.
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