News: World Bank Reform

As of October 16th, the World Bank is discussing solutions to a lot of the general issues that are out there in the world. The most relevant thus far is the discussion on how to deal with corruption which can greatly impact what is actually spent on developing public goods. In many parts of the world, including Eastern Europe and Central Asia, bribes and favoritism are a way of life and a way of climbing the social ladder. Here is the overview, directly from their site:

The World Bank Group has been working on issues related to governance and anticorruption—in areas such as public sector performance, public financial management, civil service reform, decentralization, transparency and accountability—for more than a decade. Since 2007, the Bank’s new strategy, Strengthening World Bank Group Engagement on Governance and Anticorruption (GAC), is enabling a more systematic and central approach to making GAC an element of Bank operations across sectors and countries. Commitment and championship of this agenda emanates from the senior levels of the Bank’s management—including the president, managing directors, and the high-level GAC Council.

The strategy identifies governance and anticorruption issues as critical to improving development outcomes such as better delivery of services in health, education, roads, water, and electricity, better management of natural resource revenues, and more efficient investment in infrastructure. For instance: support for better and more transparent management of public finances narrows the scope for resource misallocations or leakages; assistance to strengthen local governments enables them to be more responsive to citizen needs; and support for oversight bodies and transparency mechanisms strengthens the accountability of public officials for delivery of services.
Source: World Bank