IDB Refines Its Private Sector Strategy

John Paul — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:24:21 -0400

The Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) annual meeting opened this week in Brazil amidst violent protests against the agency’s lending practices. Critics contend that the bank's loans typically help big business, and do little for the masses of Latin American and Caribbean citizens living in dire poverty. Mega-projects like large dams and pipelines also frequently cause displacement and environmental destruction. As a result, decent economic growth has failed to reduce the large gap between its rich elite and huge numbers of poor.

The laundry list of meeting agenda items sounds instantly familiar. Delegates plan to discuss how the bank can improve the region's crumbling infrastructure, increase trade, boost economies, promote regional integration and improve living standards for those living in misery. While some – including Bolivia's first Indian leader – lobbied for debt relief to achieve the latter, a more interesting approach was proposed by Clay Lowery, the U.S. Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for international affairs.

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IDB Refines Its Private Sector Strategy