Anonymous role 80-year-old World Bank plays to the globe
The Breton Woods is receiving applications for opening bank accounts with the financial institution.
TUESDAY September 10, 2024
By Patty Magubira
The Tranquility News Reporter, Tanzania
The World Bank has admitted that it is out of touch to the majority of the 8.2 billion global citizens ahead of its 80th birthday next year.
Aghassi Mkrtichyan, the World Bank Programme Leader, says the Breton Woods was surprisingly still receiving applications at its headquarters based in Washington DC, US, for opening bank accounts with the institution.
“Some of the visitors are even asking for the whereabouts of our automatic teller machines,” wondered Mkrtichyan as he delved into enlightening 600 plus participants in the ongoing CSOs Week 2024 on the institution.
He told them that the World Bank was a cooperation belonging to 189 governments from across the world, Tanzania included, tasked to collect money and lend it to among its disadvantage stakeholders.
It comprises International Banks for Reconstruction and Development (BRD) which actually functions like any other ordinary bank, raising money from the market and lending it to governments with credit worthiness.
The low-income governments, according to Mkrtichyan, pay back the BRD loans at soft interest rates.
The Development Association (IDA) is another World Bank’s wing to which donor countries contribute money after every three years for the low-income countries like Tanzania to borrow for them to make the best of their opportunities.
Unlike the BRD loans, the IDA ones do not attract interest and are paid back over a long period. Its donor countries are scheduled to meet in December this year to decide the amount of money each will replenish.
World Bank-CSOs working ties
Mkrtichyan said CSOs were absolutely essential in the work the Breton Woods institution did, as it believed it could not achieve any of its objective without strong collaboration with them.
“We are looking forward to know, interact with and listen to you all this week to tap into your wisdom,” he said, explaining that whatever the World Bank did had to do it transparently.
The general public ought to know about programmes in place and the amount of money lent to governments for it to track down the loans from the bank.
Mkrtichyan said the World Bank enforced rigorous accountability measures within individual projects regarding social and environmental impacts.
“Methods are in place for those affected by the projects to address challenges they face,” added Mkrtichyan, calling on the CSOs to access the World Bank’s useful knowledge, research and data to enhance their work.
He said the Word Bank lacked the CSOs concept 40 years after its inception, but it was now engaging them at many levels, ranging from global to partnerships and projects in which activists served as part of the delivery system.
Mkrtichyan said the World Bank’s procedures and processes demanded widespread consultations since 1980s and that its strategies called for inclusion of CSOs and other stakeholders, including its critics whose perspectives it believed were importantΩ
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The Tranquility News Reporter/Sub Editor, Tanzania
Patty Magubira is an experienced environmental and business editor whose career started at the Tanzania's state-owned newspaper - The Daily News. He is a man of perfection. Aided by his extensive training as a community forestry expert before joining Tanzania School of Journalism. Magubira had successfully held various key posts in newsrooms, giving him an unmatched connections in media fraternity. Having worked as a bureau chief in Arusha and Mwanza, he managed to build a team work, boosting sales to the highest level ever. He was then promoted to a sub-editor after completing a training in Nairobi, Kenya. His incredible experience, critical thinking and exposure are critical to the quality of any media outlet.
