Graft or not to graft growth
The fight against corruption is surely a worthy cause on moral grounds. But the case for turning it into the principal instrument of development policy rests on much weaker foundation. The claim by Wolfowitz in the speech in Indonesia that corruption is 'one of the biggest threats to development in many countries' is just as hard to substantiate as the assertion by his predecessor, James D Wolfensohn, that rich country subsidies constitute the most important barriers to the development of the poorest countries
Abstract:
The World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz has placed the fight against corruption at the top of his development policy agenda. Citing allegations of bribery in the award of government contracts, he has gone on to block loans on projects in Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Uzbekistan.
In a major policy speech delivered in Indonesia on April 11, he has announced a long-term strategy to deploy the Bank's resources to tame corruption in the developing countries. Under the strategy, he plans to place anti-corruption teams in many World Bank country offices and require Bank staff working o high-risk countries to develop anti-corruption plans.