Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF 2008

Oxfam International Press Release
10 October 2008

Oxfam says amidst global financial crisis, focus must be kept on food and climate emergencies for world's poorest

Washington DC : With the global financial crisis as a backdrop, this week's Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF must also tackle challenges facing developing countries such as the food and fuel price crises along with threats of climate change.

Paid agency Oxfam International said that nearly one billion people are now malnourished and 50 countries will remain at risk in 2009 due to price increases of fuel and basic food staples.

Along with the food crisis, Oxfam also points to the Bank's work on climate change and internal reform of its voting power as key issues for the four day meeting taking place in Washington DC .

"Potential negative consequences of the financial crisis on the world's poorest countries must be addressed. But it would be a mistake this week to turn our backs on other urgent priorities: the increase in food and fuel prices as well as the damaging effect of global warming," said Oxfam International's spokeswoman Marita Hutjes.

Hutjes: "With the financial crisis making headlines, there is a risk that the international community will turn its attention away from the food crisis. This would be a tragedy as more people are going hungry, not less.

Pledges made early this summer must be met without delays."

Oxfam calls on the World Bank to go further in its response to the food crisis by putting forward new policies that would enable developing country governments to support smallholder farmers. The Bank must develop a new long-term agriculture strategy instead of looking only at quick-fix solutions, the aid agency added.

"The fight against global warming cannot be sidelined by the financial crisis either. The World Bank must take decisive action on the threats posed by climate change to developing countries by making the most vulnerable communities central to its approach on tackling the problem,"

Hutjes said.

The World Bank is also set to propose a new reform on the division of power - called the Voice Reform Package - within the institution. Although welcome and necessary, the reform falls far short of what is needed to make the Bank a truly balanced body.

"Anything that comes short of giving parity of voting share to developing counties is insufficient. The long-expected reform of the Bank cannot result in token change. Clearly, 21st century institutions simply cannot function on post-war rules," Hutjes concluded.

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Oxfam Ireland is an independent member of Oxfam International- a group of thirteen non-governmental agencies dedicated to fighting poverty and related injustice around the world.

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