Global Health Watch 1 in one file

22 World Bank: the centre of world health policy?
are allowed to borrow over a period of 1–4 years to support macroeconomic
stabilization programmes, and repayments are made in 3–10 years. Less often
countries can access very short-term financing in an economic crisis, requiring
repayment in 1–2 years with a heavier surcharge.
The influence of Bretton Woods
‘The belief that the Bank forces its agenda on developing countries is consistent
and overwhelming in all regions and virtually all countries,’ according
to a survey of 2600 opinion leaders in 48 countries (World Bank 2003).
The Bank and Fund can influence government policy choices in a surprising
number of ways, most obviously through ‘hard’ conditions – certain policy
reforms which must be implemented before any funds are handed over. This
type of conditionality reached its peak in the late 1990s: the average number
of Fund structural conditions rose from three in 1988 to 16 in 1998, while the
average Bank loan was accompanied by dozens of conditions.
In 2000 the Bank renamed its deeply unpopular structural adjustment
programmes. Poverty Reduction Support Credits are supposed to emphasize
recipient country ownership and fund programmes identified in Poverty
Reduction Strategy Papers developed by governments. There is widespread
The World Bank and the IMF
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