Wolfowitz announces World Bank anti-corruption strategy
12 April 2006
On April 11 the World Bank President outlined a plan for tackling corruption, denouncing it as "one of the biggest threats to development in many countries."
Paul Wolfowitz outlined a plan for tackling corruption in an April 11th speech in Jakarta. He denounced corruption as "one of the biggest threats to development in many countries," claiming that it "weakens fundamental systems, it distorts markets, and it encourages people to apply their skills and energies in nonproductive ways."
The President classified the institution's renewed efforts to tackle corruption into three fronts: at the country and project levels, and through partnerships with civil society, the private sector, borrowing countries and other multilateral development banks.
Country-level efforts will include providing governance specialists to country offices. "I'll be asking my staff in high-risk countries to develop a strategy to mobilize all World Bank instruments, loans, grants, research, technical assistance and private-sector investment to strengthen and fight corruption," the President said.
Anti-corruption efforts focusing on projects will include the use of anti-corruption teams within country offices, and reviewing project design to minimize incentives for corruption in the first place.
Civil society, the private sector, borrowing countries and other multilateral banks all have key interests and responsibilities to tackle corruption, he noted. Wolfowitz made it clear that the Bank can't do the job alone. "How much we do and how much progress we make depends on the desire of both governments and civil society to create the right setting for sound, strong, sustainable development," he said.
One interesting note is that Wolfowitz ended his speech with a reference to the Indonesian scholar Cak Nur. "His life, which ended prematurely just a few months ago, helps explain why I love this country so much...I believe in [his] priorities" of good governance and the supremacy of the law, Wolfowitz remarked. Yet Cak Nur's thoughts about governance are perhaps quite different from those of Paul Wolfowitz and the current US administration, some have noted, as illustrated by his views on the US-led war in Iraq. In his September 14, 2005 obituary, the Straits Times noted that Cak Nur "vehemently objected to the war, asking: 'Is one state justified in interfering in another state's internal affairs in order to liberate its people from a dictatorship through measures that also destroy humanitarian values?' He argued: 'Sometimes, the objective justifies the action, but then what allows the objective? Isn't it the action itself? So, if the action is wrong, the objective is destroyed in the process, too."
Wolfowitz's anti-corruption quest has generated debate in the press and within the institution. Since taking office, Wolfowitz has guided the institution’s suspension of some loans to Chad, Kenya, Bangladesh, India, Argentina, Congo-Brazzaville and Uzbekistan due to allegations of corruption.
Civil society response
Press
- World Bank Chief Outlines a War on Fraud, by Celia W. Dugger, The New York Times, April 12, 2006 (New York Times website)
- World Bank steps up anti-graft fight, by Florian Gimbelin, the Financial Times, April 12, 2006 (www.ft.com)
- Wolfowitz unveils anti-corruption strategy,by Jerry Norton, Reuters, April 11, 2006 (www.alertnet.org)
- Cleaning Up The World Bank, by Edward T. Pound and Danielle Knight, US News & World Report, April 3, 2006 (US News and World Report website)
- A hot seat for the World Bank's new president, by Edward T. Pound, US News & World Report, March 28, 2006 (Us News and World Report website)