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WB: food
prices Help
·
On May 29,
2008 World
Bank
president
Robert
Zoellick,
shared that
“World Bank
is to offer
immediate
financial
help to
countries
worst hit by
sharp rises
in food
prices as
part of a
$1.2bn
assistance
package”;
Haiti and
Liberia will
get $10m
each while
Djibouti
will receive
$5m.
·
The World
Bank says
100 million
people could
be
impoverished
by the
rising cost
and scarcer
availability
of food.
·
It has also
identified
Togo, Yemen
and
Tajikistan
as being in
need of
immediate
assistance
following
recent needs
assessments.
·
'Immediate
danger'
·
The World
Bank will
also devote
an
additional
$2bn next
year to
funding
agricultural
projects,
including
crop
insurance
schemes.
·
The World
Bank Group
is a group
of five
international
organizations
responsible
for
providing
finance and
advice to
countries
for the
purposes of
economic
development
and poverty
reduction,
and for
encouraging
and
safeguarding
international
investment.
·
The
group and
its
affiliates
have their
headquarters
in
Washington,
D.C., with
local
offices in
124 member
countries.
·
Together
with the
separate
International
Monetary
Fund, the
World Bank
organizations
are often
called the "Bretton
Woods"
institutions,
after
Bretton
Woods, New
Hampshire,
where the
United
Nations
Monetary and
Financial
Conference
that led to
their
establishment
took place
(1 July-22
July 1944).
·
The Bank
came into
formal
existence on
27 December
1945
following
international
ratification
of the
Bretton
Woods
agreements.
·
Commencing
operations
on 25 June
1946, it
approved its
first loan
on 9 May
1947 ($250m
to France
for postwar
reconstruction,
in real
terms the
largest loan
issued by
the Bank to
date).
·
Its five
agencies
are:
o
the
International
Bank for
Reconstruction
and
Development
(IBRD),
o
the
International
Finance
Corporation
(IFC),
o
International
Development
Association
(IDA),
o
Multilateral
Investment
Guarantee
Agency (MIGA),
and
o
the
International
Centre for
Settlement
of
Investment
Disputes (ICSID).
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