One-third of WB loans unaccounted for: U.S. expert<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): About a third of the World Bank's loans to
\nIndonesia have leaked and disappeared into the bureaucracy, an
\nAmerican expert on Indonesia's economy said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Jeffrey A. Winters, an associate professor at the Northwestern
\nUniversity in Illinois, blasted the World Bank at a press
\nconference hosted by the International NGO Forum on Indonesian
\nDevelopment (Infid).<\/p>\n
Winters blamed the World Bank's global "don't ask, don't tell"
\npolicy for the continuous theft of aid money.<\/p>\n
The World Bank, one of the major contributors of international
\naid to Indonesia, announced July 17 in Tokyo, Japan, that it
\nwould increase its aid to Indonesia by US$300 million for 1997-98
\nto $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n
The World Bank office here refused to comment because its
\ndirector, Dennis De Tray, was overseas.<\/p>\n
Several government officials at the National Development
\nPlanning Board refused to comment on Winters' statement.<\/p>\n
Winters estimates the World Bank has agreed to lend about
\nUS$20 billion to Indonesia since the bank was established in 1965
\nbut the exact figure was not available from the bank.<\/p>\n
Winters, whose doctoral studies focused on Indonesia and the
\nWorld Bank, said the figure of a third of World Bank money
\ndisappearing into the bureaucracy came from one of the bank's
\nformer directors in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
"Since then, half a dozen bank officials, both in Jakarta and
\nWashington, D.C., have given the same estimate. Indeed most have
\npointed out that 30 to 33 percent is a conservative estimate, and
\nthat such levels of theft and leakage are not uncommon in
\ndeveloping countries like Indonesia," Winters said.<\/p>\n
He said it would be disastrous for the bank to admit publicly
\nthat loan funds were routinely stolen in Indonesia but that "they
\nquite readily admit privately that such leakage is substantial".<\/p>\n
"One of the most disturbing aspects of the World Bank's close
\nrelationship with the Indonesian Government is that for three
\ndecades the bank has allowed a large proportion of its loan funds
\nto leak into the government bureaucracy and disappear.<\/p>\n
"The bank knows the money is being stolen, its staffers have a
\ngeneral sense of how large the problem is, but there is no
\nconcrete data on such theft because the bank does not collect
\nsuch data," Winters said.<\/p>\n
"In short, the World bank has a global policy of don't ask,
\ndon't tell," he said.<\/p>\n
Winters said the World Bank should immediately start assessing
\nhow much of the World Bank's total loans to Indonesia had been
\nstolen.<\/p>\n
"Upon determining the level that has leaked into the
\nbureaucracy, that amount should be forgiven," he said.<\/p>\n
He said since the World Bank supplied funds in a continuous
\nway it had to know that money was not being used as intended and
\nthat it was unfair that ordinary Indonesians, especially the
\npoor, had to pay back these funds with interest.<\/p>\n
"If the average Indonesian received only two-thirds of the
\nloan funds from the World Bank, why should they be required to
\npay back 100 percent with interest?" Winters asked.<\/p>\n
"The average Indonesian does not have the power to impose
\nlimits on the actions of government officials. But the World Bank
\ndoes have the leverage, and it should begin to use it
\nimmediately," he said. (aan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/one-third-of-wb-loans-unaccounted-for-us-expert-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}