World Bank and the International Monetary Fund

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been responsible for lending billions of dollars to Asian countries over the past thirty years; but, in the past, some countries were unable to repay their loans and the loans had to be refinanced in order to support the country's economy. The author points out that, to protect their investments, the IMF and the World Bank conduct a series of negotiations with the government that wishes to borrow money; these negotiations establish a series of policies and changes that the government promises to establish in order to enhance and strengthen its economy. The paper relates the economy and relationship to the IMF of several Asian countries including Indonesia, one of the leading recipients of foreign bank lending, whose history of borrowing has been troubled by political corruption and an unstable financial sector.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Indonesia
China
Thailand
The Philippines
Korea
Vietnam
Cambodia

From the Paper:

"China used to be one of the world's poorest countries. Twenty years ago, 80 percent of the population was living on less than US$1 a day and there was an illiteracy rate of 60 percent. However, over the past two decades China has made enormous progress in reducing poverty. In 1978 and again in 1995, China launched an economic reform program which took it from being a communist economy to a market-based one. The economic reform package brought the country up to average growth rate in gross domestic product of 8 percent a year. Growth has continued in China and the poverty rate has declined, bringing more than 200 million Chinese above the poverty level."

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