Urgent action needed to cut global poverty and win development results - WB, IMF

BOLD and urgent action is needed to reduce extreme poverty and improve people's economic and social prospects in developing countries in keeping with a set of key development targets, called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said a recent report released by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The credibility of the entire development community is at stake as never before, said World Bank President, James Wolfensohn in introducing the second annual Global Monitoring Report, 'MDGs: From Consensus to Momentum'.

Rich countries must now deliver on the promises they have made in terms of aid, trade and debt relief, and the developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa need to aim higher and do better in terms of their own policies and governance to make more effective use of aid.

The 2005 Global Monitoring Report is part of a five-year stocktaking effort to monitor progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. More than 180 world leaders agreed unanimously to the development goals at the UN Millennial Summit in New York in September, 2000.

The report will be discussed by finance ministers, central bankers, and development ministers in Washington at the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF.

It will also serve as an important input into the upcoming G8 heads of state meeting to be held in the UK in July and the UN Summit on the MDGs in September. The report says that meeting the MDGs will require a doubling of the amount of official development assistance (ODA) reaching the poorest countries.

Wolfensohn urged donors to use this year of stocktaking to raise their commitments and signal that support for the MDGs is forthcoming.