World Bank- its Objectives and Functions

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:56:02 +0000

World Bank- its Objectives and Functions The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), commonly known as World Bank, was result of the Bretton Woods Conference. The main objectives behind setting up this international organisation were to aid the task of reconstruction of the war-affected economies of Europe and assist in the development of the underdeveloped nations of the world. For the first few years, the World Bank remained preoccupied with the task of restoring war-torn nations in Europe. Having achieved success in accomplishing this task by late 1950s, the World Bank turned its attention to the development of underdeveloped nations. Over the time, additional organisations have been set up under the umbrella of the World Bank.

As of today, the World Bank is a group of five international organisations responsible for providing finance to different countries. As mentioned earlier, the World Bank is entrusted with the task of economic growth and widening of the scope of international trade. During its initial years of inception, it placed more emphasis on developing infrastructure facilities like energy, transportation and others. No doubt all this has benefited the under-developed nations too, but the results were not found to be very satisfactory due to poor administrative structure, lack of institutional framework and non-availability of skilled labour in these countries. Realising these problems, the World Bank later decided to divert resources to bring about industrial and agricultural development in these countries.

Assistance is extended to different countries for raising cash crops so that their incomes rise and they may export the same for earning foreign exchange. The bank has also been providing resources for education, sanitation, health care and small scale enterprises. Today, the services provided by the World Bank have increased manifold. The World Bank is no longer confined to simply providing financial assistance for infrastructure development, agriculture, industry, health and sanitation. It is rather significantly involved in areas like removal of rural poverty through raising productivity, increasing income of the rural poor, providing technical support, and initiating research and cooperative ventures. The group and its affiliates headquartered in Washington DC catering to various financial needs are listed below on World Bank and its affiliates. World Bank and its Affiliates

Institution
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)     1945
International Financial Corporation (IFC)                                          1956
International Development Association (IDA)                                   1960
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)                          1988
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) 1966

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International Trade Institutions and Trade Agreements

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:20:57 +0000

The First World War (1914-1919) and the Second World War (1939-45) were accompanied by massive destruction of life and property the world over. Almost all the economies of the world were adversely affected. Due to scarcity of resources, countries were not in a position to take up any reconstruction or developmental works. Even the international trade amongst nations got adversely affected because of the disruption of the world’s currency system.

There was no system of generally accepted exchange rate. It was at that juncture that representative of forty-four nations under the leadership of J.M. Keynes — a noted economist joined together at Breton Woods, New Hampshire to identify measures to restore peace and normalcy in the world. The meeting was concluded with the setting up of three international institutions, namely the International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Trade Organization (ITO). While the World Bank was assigned with the task of reconstructing war-torn economies — especially the ones in Europe, the IMF was entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring stabilisation of exchange rates to pave way for the expansion of world trade. The main objective of the ITO as they could foresee at that time was to promote and facilitate international trade among the member countries by overcoming various restrictions and discriminations that were being practiced at that time. The first two institutions, viz., IBRD and IMF, came into existence immediately.

The idea of setting up of ITO, however, could not materialise due to stiff opposition from the United States. Instead of an organisation, what eventually emerged was an arrangement to liberalise international trade from high customs tariffs and various other types of restrictions. This arrangement came to be known as the General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT came into existence with effect from 1st January 1948 and remained in force till December 1994. Various rounds of negotiations have taken place under the auspices of GATT to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers. The last one, known as the Uruguay Round, was the most comprehensive one in terms of coverage of issues, and also the lengthiest one from the point of view of duration of negotiations which lasted over a period of seven years from 1986 to 1994. Since 1st January 1995, GATT has been transformed into World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Unlike GATT, WTO is a permanent body and has a global status similar to that of IMF and World Bank. WTO agreements cover trade in not only goods but also in services and intellectual property through various agreements such as Agreement on Textiles on Clothing (ATC), General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), Agreement Relating to Trade in Intellectual Property (TRIP) and Agreement on Agriculture (AoA).

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World Bank- its Objectives and Functions

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International Trade Institutions and Trade Agreements

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