World Bank called to help poor nations

Press, 5 October 1985, Page 7

World Bank called to help poor nations

NZPA-ReuterMale, the Maldives Commonwealth finance Ministers have ended three days of talks with an attack on protectionism and a call for a big increase in the World Bank’s funds to help poor countries. A statement issued after their meeting said the world economy might plunge into depression if the goals of free trade were ignored. The Ministers, representing the 49 Commonwealth countries, were concerned about high world interest rates, low commodity prices, and unstable exchange rates. They welcome an agreement reached 10 days ago by the United . States, Britain, West Germany, France and Japan to reduce the value of the dollar and ease protectionist pressure. During the meeting, Ministers said repeatedly that the accord would be

useless unless Washington tackled the huge United States Federal deficit, which they saw as the root cause of the high dollar. Their statement emphasised the importance of talks now taking place under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade on reducing protectionism. Conference sources said India, which had been criticised for dragging its feet in the G.A.T.T. talks, showed flexibility and willingness in the discussions in Male. Ministers clearly regarded the need to combat trade barriers as vital to keep export markets open to less developed countries, but they also agreed unanimously on the need to boost the capital of the World Bank. The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Sir Shridath Ramphal, said “There was a general meeting of minds on the World Bank.”