[HDR 1999] News Summary on the World Bank Development News

["Irfan Khan" <KhanIA@super.net.pk>]

[from the World Bank Development News July 12, 1999]  


UNDP ATTACKS INCOME GAP, URGES RULES ON GLOBAL INTEGRATION.

According to the 1999 UNDP Human Development Report released today, 
the combined wealth of the world's three riches families is greater 
than the annual income of 600 million people in the least developed 
countries, and this 'grotesque' gap between the rich and the poor is 
widening, reports the Guardian (p.6).  Economic globalization is 
creating a dangerous polarization between multibillionaires like 
Microsoft's Bill Gates and the millions who have been left behind, 
the report states.  

To counter the negative effects of globalization on the poorest 
nations, the report concludes that tougher rules on global 
governance, including principles of performance for multinationals on 
labor standards, fair trade, and environmental protection are needed. 
 The report also calls for a 'global forum' to bring together 
multinational corporations, trade unions, NGOs, and governments to 
reinforce the trend towards ethical codes of conduct.  

Multinationals are too dominant in the world economy for voluntary 
codes to be enough, the report says.  International codes of conduct 
should also be developed for banks and other financial institutions, 
covering secrecy and risk assessment.  

As many countries are still catching up with older technologies, the 
report says they will need a help from rich countries to start taking 
part in the digital world, the FT (p.4) adds in a related story.  The 
UNDP report calls for a tax on information sent through the Internet, 
with the proceeds used to help provide expensive equipment in poor 
countries.  With rapid growth of the Internet, a very small tax could 
still raise sums far in excess of the world's rich countires' 
official aid budgets.  

Commenting in a leader, the FT (p.13) says of cyber-isolation are 
nothing compared with the human costs imposed by inadequate 
infrastructure and education systems, too often abetted by economic 
and political mismanagement.  Tackling them must be the overriding 
priority of development policy.  



This summary is prepared by the External Affairs Department of the 
World Bank. All material is taken directly from published and 
copyright wire service stories and newspaper articles.  

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