Graft, gender, transparency on top of WB agenda: Zoellick

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WASHINGTON, Apr 7 (agencies): The World Bank Group President Robert B Zoellick has said that each of the issues such as corruption, gender and transparency has been recognised over the last 20 years as being crucial for successful development and are now part of the WB's policy portfolio. In the past, these issues not mentioned at the World Bank because they were considered as too political, he noted. "Some of that may be what we think of as politics, but most of it is also what we know is good economics; most of it is what we know is good for fighting corruption; most of it is what we know is good for inclusive and sustainable development," Zoellick said in a speech entitled: "The Middle East and North Africa: A New Social Contract for Development". In a policy address before the World Bank's Spring Meetings, Zoellick said the Bank would not only promote institutional reforms but also look into providing more support for civil society, as a way of making government more accountable to people. The crisis engulfing the Middle East and North Africa shows that greater citizen participation and better governance are crucial for economic development, and the World Bank will do more to emphasise both, he stated. "Our message to our clients, whatever their political system, is that you cannot have successful development without good governance and without the participation of your citizens," Zoellick told an audience at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC. "We will encourage governments to publish information, enact Freedom of Information Acts, open up their budget and procurement processes, build independent audit functions, and sponsor reforms of justice systems. We will not lend directly to finance budgets in countries that do not publish their budgets or, in exceptional cases, at least commit to publish their budgets within twelve months," he added. Good governance will not happen without the active participation of citizens, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, where modernization had only been partially successful and institutions were sclerotic, he observed. The World Bank is currently working with civil society and project beneficiaries in over half of its new operations. But Zoellick proposed that the Bank now examine taking this further by introducing new facilities or capabilities to help strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations working on accountability and transparency in service delivery. "Now it may be time to invest in the private, not-for-profit sector -- civil society -- to help strengthen the capacity of organisations working on transparency, accountability, and service delivery," Zoellick said. Surveying the economic performance in the Middle East and North Africa, Zoellick noted it is a region that is poorly integrated into the global economy. It also suffers the highest unemployment among developing regions; the highest jobless rates among the best educated; the lowest economic participation rates by women. Its governments now faced enormous expectations to provide jobs quickly in a region where the direct opportunity cost of youth unemployment is estimated at up to $50 billion a year. Noting that the region needed to create 40 million jobs over the next decade, Zoellick said countries had to make policy decisions now about how to boost employment, add to productivity, and better integrate with the global economy. This would mean becoming open to importing know-how, technologies, and manufacturing and logistical systems, whether through foreign investment, licensing, or other business ties to overcome insularity and remove barriers to regional integration. Summing up the needs in the Middle East and North Africa, Zoellick said: "They want a new social contract. They want dignity. They want respect. And if they are women, they want these same things." He offered the twin histories of Vietnam and Algeria as an example of how development could work. "Vietnam and Algeria were both French colonies that endured years of civil strife," he noted. "Vietnam took the initiative and seized opportunities to open to international markets and technologies." To follow in Asia's footsteps, "the countries of the Middle East today need to facilitate a rapid expansion of labour intensive exports," and stop depending on oil and commodity exports for income. Instead, regimes still choose to face the problem of jobs "with a mix of political repression, public sector jobs, and subsidies on food, fuel and other necessities. "These measures bought time, but little else." Over time, he noted, with very low levels of private investment, "the region's youth bulge has nowhere to go but into government -- where new jobs are scarce -- or onto the street." He recommended simple reforms to begin the process -- "such things as cutting red tape, speeding licensing approvals, reforming bankruptcy laws, and easing regulators' rigidities could be transformative signals." He also proposed the World Bank work more with citizens groups involved in monitoring government accountability and transparency.