Bad advise from world bank

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Almost 16 years ago, Robert McNamara visited Upper Volta (presently Burkina Faso) as President of the World Bank. In his report to the Directors of the Bank upon his return, McNamara suggested that, since the people living along the Volta River suffered from river blindness, the Bank´s priority should be to rid the region of the disease before making economic investments there. This realistic assessment of problem in Upper Volta prompted the Bank bureaucracy to turn its attention to the health sector as well.

McNamara´s tenure brought to the World Bank a leadership which was sensitive to the problems of the least developed countries. Today, the World Bank is quite distanced from McNamara´s vision. It has slowly reverted back to its old pattern of investment, interest and profit earning. This is clear from the conditionalities being imposed by the Bank on Nepal and other developing countries.

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Himal Southasian
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