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| [00:08.20]Protests have been taking place this week in Washington [00:13.45]against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. [00:19.10]Major actions are planned Sunday and Monday. [00:24.11]The aim is to stop the meeting of finance ministers [00:29.47]and central bank officials at the I-M-F and World Bank headquarters. [00:35.79]A coalition of several hundred groups hoped to bring [00:40.80]as many as 20,000 protesters to Washington. [00:45.43]These groups protested at the meeting of the World Trade Organization [00:51.28]in Seattle last year. [00:54.91]The potesters say the I-M-F and World Bank are hurting people in poorf [01:02.12]developing countries.The protesters want the organizations to cut the huge amount [01:09.46]of money owed by these countries. [01:13.20]They say the money saved on debt payments [01:18.45]could be used for health care,education and protection of the environment. [01:25.26]The United States and its allies created the International Monetary Fund [01:32.42]and the World Bank after World War Two. [01:37.28]Most of the countries in the world are members. [01:41.41]The two organizations control thousands of millions of dollars in assistance [01:48.33]The I-M-F and the World Bank have a close relationship [01:54.36]but different responskbilities. [01:57.71]The main job of the International Monetary Fund [02:03.06]is to support world economic growth. [02:07.19]The I-M-F provides money to help countries [02:12.15]deal with short-term difficulties. [02:15.89]These loans often come with unpopular demands for economic changes. [02:22.52]I-M-F officials also also advise on financial policy. [02:28.66]The World Bank provides loans to governments and private organizationsThe World Bank provides loans to governments and private organizations [02:35.87]for development projects. [02:39.61]These include projects to develop transportation,health and education systems [02:46.77]The World Bank is the leading provider of development assistance. [02:52.90]It also makes loans to restructure national economic systems. [02:59.33]Protest organizers say the I-M-F and the World Bank represent [03:06.54]the interests of big business and the very rich. [03:11.40]And,they say these organizations defend [03:15.74]the interests of major industrial countries. [03:19.86]Many officials at the Washington meetings agree [03:25.90]that the debts of the poorest countries should be cancelled. [03:30.91]However,the issue is not so simple. [03:36.16]The World Bank and other lenders say they need to berepaid in some way [03:43.90]so they can make future loans. [03:47.84]Also,creditors do not want governments to take the money saved [03:54.61]from debt forgiveness and use it for military purposes or bad investments. [04:01.95]Last year,industrial nations agreed to cancel up to 29,000,000,000 dollars [04:11.59]of debt owed by as many as forty-one countries. [04:17.02]So far,only three--Bolivia,Mauritania and Uganda [04:24.67]have received major reductions. [04:28.23]World Bank President James Wolfensohn says the bank [04:34.86]hopes to have 60,000,000,000 dollars of debt [04:40.11]from twenty countries cancelled by the end of this year. [04:45.96]And,he says he believes the protests like those in Washington [04:51.81]show concerns about the changing world economy. |
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