4-Year Global Review of Structural Adjustment

Thousands of civil-society organizations have completed a major multi-country assessment with the World Bank of the impact of the economic adjustment policies of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund on local populations in the developing world. The results, summarized in a 25-page report, The Policy Roots of Economic Crisis and Poverty, show a systematic weakening of the productive capacity of the countries implementing Bank policies and the inability of these countries to generate productive employment at a living wage. Poverty has been further deepened by the inability of the poor to access essential services at affordable rates.