The International Monetary Fund And The World Bank Were

By the year 1930, the United States of America’s economy was in a “critical [state of] national emergency” (Roosevelt, 1933). With reference to F. D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” – the policies of economic reform introduced to rebuild the American economy – this essay will compare and contrast the economic situation of present-day South Africa, with that of the United States of America in the 1930s, and will serve to explore the economic theory supporting the major policies implemented in attempt to alleviate the stress on the economy. Lastly, it will build on this theory to suggest two supply-side fiscal policies – education and skills development, and tax reform – which, if implemented effectively by government, would contribute to addressing unemployment and poverty in South Africa.

After Zambia gained political independence their economy was doing better. Their economy was surrounded around their primary natural resource, copper. As copper sales went up, new medical buildings and schools were built, they had a promising textile industry and things were looking up. Until an unexpected rise in the price of oil in tandem with the dropping prices of copper forced Zambia to borrow from the IMF and world banks at extremely high interest rates. Soon Zambia found itself in a mountain of unpayable debts and to repay creditors, spending was cut to education and health and other infrastructure projects. Eventually all of the progress they have made goes to waste as it can not be maintained. Foreign countries currently dictate the economic policy via structural adjustment, i.e. policies that “should” increase revenue and allow them to pay the loans off. This inevitably leads to a country that is so dependent on foreign aid because their own industries have been destroyed by foreign influences.

The large cash injection would then create a “greasing the gears effect” and allow for the jumpstart of economic development. Between the years of 1948 and 1952 the U.S. granted $13 billion to revamp the European economy (Dambisa, 2009: 35). This particular method achieved great success in post-World War II Europe and was known as the Marshall Plan. Due to its effective and unquestionable success in this era, the model was applied to economic development in Africa with the confidence that the same outstanding results would ensue. However, the application of the Marshall Plan to Africa is problematic for three reasons. One, the Marshall Plan had a rigid duration period of five years while, the concessional loans and grants to Africa over the last 50 years have been unending (Dambisa, 2009: 36). Two, European institutions were already in place to receive the aid efficiently and effectively. In Africa, however, these same institutions are either non-existent or grossly ineffective due to corruption (Dambisa, 2009: 37). The vast amounts of corruption have been heavily documented. Mobutu Sese Seko, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1997, for example, stole an equivalent of U.S. 5 billion dollars from his people (Dambisa, 2009: 48). However, even the less corrupt rulers of many African countries had few options as to what to invest the aid money on. Consequently, the bulk concessional aid goes directly into consumption without a variety of investment outlets. This process does not solve the problem but instead, allows for the cycle to continue. Lastly, three, the money from the Marshal had specific targets to repair physical infrastructure such as, roads, communications, sewage, factories, and electric systems (Dambisa, 2009: 37) In Africa today, the scope of the

The political and economical issues spread beyond the government and to the community in Zimbabwe. For 15 years prior, the economy is Zimbabwe had been slowly fading but after the recent election the unemployment rate rose to eighty percent (“Govt” 1, 2). The number for jobless people increased to a massive number of nearly 200,000 making the eleventh year high up to 3.33 million (“Bankruptcies” 1, 2). This made it extremely challenging for families to afford things like education, health care, and even housing. As a result, this forced people to turn to crime and corruption just to try and make a living. While the citizens were turning to crime, the government was wasting all it’s money for personal needs. It was also discovered that the government had been paying more than 40,000 to what was referred to as “ghost workers” appearing on their payroll (“Govt” 1, 2). As a result of this, Zimbabwe was part of a huge fraud situation with the Nigerian Deposit Insurance. They were accounted for seventy-four cents for all fraud counts (“Our” 1). Soon after this scandal, Zimbabwe had no choice but to declare bankruptcy making the country record, 1082 bankruptcies as of 2008 (“Bankruptcies” 1, 2). After the fraud situation the government tried to cover up by creating an Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The government was interested in fixing

In addition to the drought, Zimbabwe suffers from hyper-inflation as a result of Mugabe's "reforms". He seized all of the farms from white farmers and redistributed them to his supporters. When Mugabe took power in 1980 after the British ceded control of the country, Zimbabwe was poised to be one of the world's most promising economies. Mugabe's policies have thrown the country into economic chaos, however, with its output less than half of what is was nearly 40 years ago.

In Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, representatives from the Allied nations met to change that. The agreement they struck, known as the Bretton Woods system, provided what they believed to be the necessary infrastructure to facilitate this increasingly global economy. All currencies would have a set exchange rate, in gold-backed dollar terms. This would, in theory, make global transactions involving different currencies simple and easy to regulate. The International Monetary Fund was established to make sure that these exchanges ran smoothly and that countries could meet their obligations.

In june of 2012, the world bank committed about $52.6 billion in loans, grants, equity investments, and helps in promoting economic growth, poverty and economic enterprise. The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and also provides policy advice and technical assistance which helps countries maintain strong economies. The world bank promotes long term economic development and poverty reduction by providing technical/financial support to help countries reform.

One major complaint about the World Bank is that it causes high debt in developing countries. Even though the loans are meant to help these countries, they end up causing the countries to take on debt that they must pay interest on and remain under the conditions of the institution. Another is that as part of their lending requirements; the World Bank has imposed rigorous conditions on recipient countries. These requirements are known as structural adjustment programs. These programs force countries to adopt their conditions, such as deregulation of capital markets, reformation of national companies to private corporations, and downscaling of social welfare programs. Privatization of water supplies and public pensions, and imposing fees for public hospitals and publics schools are among the debated bank reforms. In his book, 50 Years Is Enough, Kevin Danaher describes the World Bank's policies as "austerity plans that 'reform' economic policies by suffocating the poor and inviting

In July 1944, delegates from forty-four countries met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire for a conference. The meeting established the Bretton Woods System, a series of financial international organizations, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In 1945, twenty-nine countries signed the Articles of Agreements, which gave birth to the IMF. The

Affordable: Southerly Africa 's monetary as well as fiscal policies authorized your financial system to build through the 1990s for the oncoming from the world-wide economic crisis. However, america saw growing joblessness a result of the replacement associated with labour within a lot of the employment-generating areas. Furthermore, your nation 's growing public debts as well as abnormal power always deter people.

In terms of world impact, no ideology has irreparably shaped the course of history like neoliberalism. Its core tenets of free markets would inform the policies imposed on developing nations. The assumption among particularly Western nations would be that developing nations would need to advance to become modern capitalistic societies just like them. However, the efforts to reach that ideal would lead to more harm than good. Neoliberalism has resulted in heavy debt for developing nations, unequitable free trade, and strong economic inequality in the global South. In light of these problems, one can utilize the solutions of debt alleviation, fair trade policies, and Keynesian policies to address these issues in a substantial way to mitigate

Some international development banks have been blamed for imposing policies that ultimately destabilize the economies of recipient countries.

1.The international financial institutions (IFIs) are central pillars and the architects of the global economy. The world bank and IMF were founded and funded by the United states after the second world war to build shattered world economy after the war and great depression of the 1930s (socialist alternative,). The creation of the IFIs was to bring about a global economy after the “isolation economy” which some argue brought about the Second World War. The IFIs were to help the economy of the less developing countries (LDCs) to bring about growth and development, a phenomenon known as globalization.

This essay seeks to critically analyze the statement that “Economic liberalism is a prerequisite for economic development in development economies.” This paper will begin by outlining the concept of economic liberalization and its effect on the development agenda for Zambia. An analysis of these experiences is then made in order to derive lessons regarding the linkage between economic liberalization and economic development. It will then draw the pros and cons; positives and negatives effects of economic liberalism in the Zambian economy and will finally conclude by establishing the way forward for developing

For the past ten years, Zimbabwe has been riddled with economic stagnation as well as being the subject of political instability, thus that been the reason why many companies and countries have turned a blind eye as concerns investing. Once known as the bread basket of Africa, Zimbabwe has the ability to rise up again especially with the internationally accepted new government of Unity were the two major political parties, ZANU PF and MDC have come together to work as one for the betterment of the country and to fulfil the needs of the people.