by Playfuls Staff |
13th July 2006
The World Bank will continue its its annual 500-million-dollar credit to Ethiopia but with "checks and balances" on where the money goes, the organization's president, Paul Wolfowitz, said Wednesday night at the conclusion of his two-day visit to the country. [more]
To check the credits were properly used for the purposes they were intended for, the World Bank would enlist the help of civil society organizations and also expects "open and transparent" information from the government on how development-credits were dispersed, Wolfowitz said.
The World Bank president was scheduled to leave Ethiopia later in the evening for a visit to Tanzania, after which he will travel to St Petersburg, Russia, for the G8 summit over the weekend.
He intends to press the world's richest countries to live up to the promises made at their summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, a year ago, to provide assistance for alleviating abject poverty in Africa.
At a press briefing before his departure, the World Bank president said he was impressed by development endeavours in Ethiopia during his working visit to rural communities in the northwest of the country and talks with authorities, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
"All want to end poverty and improve the livelihoods of the poorest of the poor," Wolfowitz said.
While other donors had withheld support to Ethiopia over human rights violations in connection with post-election disturbances last year, the Bank had continued extending development credits to Ethiopia.
Wolfowitz acknowledged that last year's bitterly contested elections and the post-election disputes resulting in political tensions, had affected the country's pace of development.
Almost 90 people were killed in post-election demonstrations in June and November of last year, after opposition leaders said the election was rigged.
Wolfowitz said he had "excellent" meeting earlier Wednesday with Meles, on how to continue providing equitable basic services to the poor in Ethiopia in a transparent manner.
He also met with representatives of civil society, opposition parties and farmers during his visit.
He stated that peace and stability now prevailed in Ethiopia, after civil strife and natural calamities had plagued the country in recent years.
"Its performances on growth and human development for several years now had been encouraging," he said.
The Bank would continue providing credits to Ethiopia, which averaged about 500 million dollars annually, to improve the livelihood of the poor through the expansion of basis services such as health, education, water and sanitation, Wolfowitz said.
"Our renewed focus would be on quality, local empowerment and transparency," he added.
"We have to ensure resource flows to local authorities will require adequate checks and balances to be in place to monitor effectiveness and accountability of service delivery," he observed.
© 2006 DPA
