DANGER OF WELL-MEANING AMBITION

The World Bank could achieve too little for the people of heavily indebted poor countries by aspiring to do too much. Three billion people - half the world's population - live on less than US2 a day each (at international purchasing power parity) and 1.3bn are on less than a dollar a day. Helping these destitute people to escape from their plight is humanity's most urgent challenge. The question is how to achieve this desired end. The annual meetings in Washington last week of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund were dominated by precisely this issue. They saw agreement on a more generous programme of debt relief for the heavily indebted poor countries. They also saw the nomination of James Wolfensohn to a second term at the head of the Bank. The two decisions were linked. This is not only because Mr Wolfensohn has been an ardent proponent of debt relief, but because relief for these countries must be seen as the end of a failed beginning.