Africa: Bankers and Baghdad

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in Washington earlier this month witnessed the members' rejection of two big ideas - debt cancellation and institutional democratisation. No surprise. However, important financial developments are now unfolding, reflective of Washington's geopolitical imperatives in Iraq. Bank and IMF activity there was relegitimised at the annual meeting, but in a contradictory and untenable manner...Hypocrisy on debt relief - Iraq gets waves, Africa only trickles - worries not only excellent groups like Jubilee South and the 50 Years is Enough network, who insist on 100% cancellation. In early October even Malawi's neoliberal finance minister Goodal Gondwe complained of double standards during the IMF/Bank meetings: 'What I am afraid of is that putting Nigeria together with Iraq we may emphasize for sentimental reasons that are currently in the air politically, that talking about Iraq could be at the expense of Nigeria.'
Patrick Bond