Enabling growth in underpowered economies : getting recognition for the importance of transport

Abstract

Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 12 - 15 July 2004 "Getting recognition for the importance of transport", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. The main theme of my paper and presentation is the role of infrastructure in enabling growth in, and the World Bank's support for infrastructure in developing countries which I prefer to call Underpowered Economies. Underpowered Economies is a much nicer and better reflection of the economies we are trying to improve. But first, let me take a few minutes to offer a little background on the World Bank, and the challenges that we are trying to address. The World Bank's mission has changed considerably since our inception 60 years ago. We were initially set up to assist with post-war reconstruction of Europe — indeed, our very first loan went to France. We have since evolved into what we are today: an organization whose single focus is to fight poverty in developing countries across the world. The Bank is particularly engaged in helping developing countries meet the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs commit the international community and the Bank to a set of specific goals, to be achieved by 2015. They aim, for example, to reduce extreme poverty by half; ensure universal primary education; reduce child mortality; combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria; and increase access to safe drinking water. Obviously, this is no small feat - as the daunting facts clearly show. We live today in a world of 6 billion people, of which 5 billion live in developing countries. Some 2.8 billion people, nearly half of the world's population, survive on less than $2 a day. In the coming years, the world's population will increase by 2 billion people - nearly all of whom will be born in developing countries. Add to this the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where life expectancy has dropped from 65 to only 47 years, and more than 12 million children are orphaned. These are only a few figures to demonstrate that the development challenge of reducing poverty and meeting the MDGs is simply tremendous.