TL: NO $ FOR DESTRUCTION, WORLD BANK FACTS SO: Greenpeace International (GP) DT: September 1994 Keywords: atmosphere ozone world bank cfcs chemicals production aid cfcs policy failures problems greenpeace factsheets gp / ---------- NO DOLLARS FOR DESTRUCTION: BANKFACTS For every taxpayer dollar invested in the World Bank by the UK Government, UK companies receive $1.85 in procurement contracts to carry out World Bank work. In France, every dollar invested in the bank brings French companies $1.82; in the US $1.80; Germany, $1.51; Japan $1.01. (source: US Treasury secretary Lloyd Bentsen testimony to Congress). Estimated square km of forest destroyed due to World Bank loans:1.9 million. Tonnes of CFCs phased out in developing countries by May this year by the World Bank: 245. Present consumption of ozone depleting substances in developing countries is 150,000 tonnes. Number of World Bank Structural Adjustment Loans subjected to Environmental Assessment studies in 1993: 0 Between 1980 and 1989 some 33 African countries received 241 structural adjustment loans from the World Bank. During that same period: - GDP per capita in those countries fell 1.1% a year - Per capita food production experienced a steady decline - Real value of minimum wage dropped by over 25% - Government expenditure on education fell from $11 - $7 billion - Number of poor people rose by 17% from 184 million in 1985 to 216 million in 1990. Number of people currently being resettled due to World Bank projects: 2 million Number of poor people displaced by World Bank loans in India since 1947: 20 million Number of World Bank projects with successful relocation (according to US Congress Human Rights caucus): 0 World Bank loans to be committed to the human rights-violating Indonesian Government in 1994: $5 billion In 1992, UK contractors and consultants received $285 million in fees from the Bank's IDA (International Development Association). Bangladesh's loan that year from the IDA was $253 million. Bangladesh has to pay the money back; the UK consultants do not. Switzerland, then not even a bank member, received more than Sri Lanka and the Philippines. (source: global exchange). In 1993, 14 severely indebted countries (mainly African) paid more in debt services to the World Bank than they received from it in new loans. In 1991, the World Bank itself deemed 38% of its projects unsatisfactory. 20% of the world's population live in the 10 richest countries: those 10 richest countries earn 85% of world income; they also hold a 54% share of votes in the World Bank. The 48 subsaharan African countries have a 4.8% share of votes in the bank. 1993 World Bank administration budget: $1 billion. Most of this was spent on staff salaries. World Bank profits for 1993: $1.1 billion World Bank liquid reserves, 1993: $19 billion 74% of the World Bank's $3.2 billion transportation loans in 1993 was spent on road and highway construction rather than on environmentally friendly urban mass-transit and non-vehicular transport. ____________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________