News: Emergency loans to Belarus

More emergency funds make the IMF loan to Belarus total $2.23 Billion. This is almost purely economic stimulus money to keep things afloat, but I have to wonder if this money would be better used for other things. Either way $2.23 Billion is nothing to sneeze at. The impacts to funding infrastructure projects will likely be seen in a few years after all the economic issues level out, or get worse. Money is going into keeping the economy stable, but with no long term investments in public goods, there's going to be a severe lack of functional infrastructure whether it's education or roads:

“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday granted Belarus access to $700 million worth of emergency funds, bringing a crisis-easing loan package to $2.23 billion. The IMF executive board said Minsk's economic performance had warranted the disbursement of about $699.5 million, part of a $3.63 billion package….” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

Reuters adds that “….IMF Deputy Managing Director Takatoshi Kato said the country had made ‘good progress’ in adjusting its policies to weather the global financial crisis…. ‘Exchange rate adjustment has helped reduce external vulnerabilities, with the present exchange regime providing a buffer against external shocks,’ Kato said. ‘The adjustment has been supported by a tight fiscal policy, with revenue shortfalls offset by spending cuts, and by an interest rate policy that has kept market rates high in real terms,’ he added….” [Reuters/Factiva]

Bloomberg writes that “…Belarus’ trade deficit widened more than 77 percent in the first half of the year to $3.95 billion from a $2.23 billion shortfall in the same period in 2008, according the National Statistics Committee. Exports to Russia, the country’s main trading partner, plummeted to $2.96 billion from $5.57 billion in the first six months of last year…. ‘Securing sufficient financial resources from the international community is essential for Belarus’ reform efforts,’ Kato said….” [Bloomberg]

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