'Ida May Not Exist Beyond 3 Yrs'
The question is: How much IDA do we have available, how long is IDA going to continue? Wolfensohn told reporters. We are going to have a lot of work to do in the next three years to make sure that some form of IDA continues.
India was the largest beneficiary of the highly concessional facility last year, receiving $1.3 billion in credits.
Wolfensohn said he would discuss India's future IDA requirements during his week-long visit beginning October 12, but warned that much would depend on the amount of credits available and the demand from countries apart from India and China.
The World Bank president is coming to his largest client country to get a feel of projects on the ground, meet the new government, understand the critical role of the states in the decision-making process.
As he swings through Maharashtra, Orissa, Karnataka and Delhi, everything from slums to women's projects, NGOs, the public sector and the private sector will be on his agenda.
Improving the flow of disbursements will be top priority. I will re-examine every project from scratch, he said. Wolfensohn and finance minister P Chidambaram are committed to exchange ideas to improve India's present disbursement ratio of 13.5 per cent, when they meet in New Delhi.
If Wolfensohn's present enthusiasm for the government's policies is any indication, his meetings with the authorities should be a love-fest.
The common minimum programme sounds like a programme we would love to have written ... like a very straightforward, down the middle policy. If they can do it, it looks extremely good to me, he said.
But the Australian-born World Bank chief is also likely to discuss potentially tricky issues such as the power sector in India, counter-guarantees, and the role of NGOs.
In a departure from the past, no World Bank project anywhere across the globe is now cleared without taking into account the environmental element and the future of dislocated people. I will not sign off on any project unless they take into account the views of the NGOs and the affected people, Wolfensohn, who is scheduled to meet activist Medha Patkar in India, said. My door is always open to listen to NGOs.
On counter-guarantees, the former investment banker said he was considering an idea to set up a private company to provide guarantees without mandatory backing from the host government.
He said he was examining the risk involved in guaranteeing projects that the private sector deemed potentially troublesome.
The demand is enormous, a $100 billion required every year just in power.
But what happens when $50 million of it goes sour and we are called on for our guarantee? I have to think not only about being a hero to get the business but about what happens if it goes bad, he said.
Meanwhile, Wolfensohn is also likely to discuss ways to eliminate corruption. He is the first World Bank president to have mentioned the word corruption, and made it a key part of his address to these annual meetings.
He has vowed to work on eradicating corruption country by country, and to promptly cancel World Bank-funded projects that are tainted (I don't expect that this will be an issue in India, he said).
World Bank projects will also be subject to spot audits, mostly by local teams which are familiar with the conditions. I would get the best locals because in five minutes, they would tell you someone is a crook, Wolfensohn said.
Wary of being accused of interfering politically, the former investment banker distanced himself from issues of domestic politics. I cannot be the world's judge or policeman. What I can do is monitor World Bank projects tightly, be ready to help countries that ask for our help, and provide moral support to groups fighting corruption, he said. Corruption is an issue of economic development.
Sounds like something he might have said as a swashbuckling India movie hero back in 1957 when he was offered a monthly contract of Rs 200 a month, plus benefits. Sadly, I didn't accept, he confided. I've regretted it ever since.