The World Bank has vowed to suspend loans to countries that violate its anti-corruption policies. In 2006, the Bank suspended several loans and blocked debt forgiveness to countries such as Chad, Kenya, Bangladesh, India and Argentina due to problems of corruption. Although the bank said accountability had improved in the last 10 years especially on the African continent, critics noted however, that corruption was the major impediment to development in most African states. The World Bank Vice President for Africa, Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili, questioned why so much money had been invested in education and health for instance and yet those sectors had not been able to deliver the desired results. She told African journalists during a video press conference in Accra on Monday that last year alone the Bank gave out $5.4 billion as aid to poor countries and had earmarked to deliver $7.2 billion by the close of this year. “We will deal with corrupt issues seriously and any country involved would be suspended,” Ms Ezekwesili warned. The World Bank Vice President for Africa said the mission of her outfit was to free the world of poverty, noting that “until this is achieved, the Bank could not celebrate any success.” She debunked the notion that the Breton Woods Institutions imposed inimical policies on governments of poor countries as conditions for giving them aid. “It is not our practice at the World Bank to impose policies in countries and we have never done that,” she said. Ms Ezekwesili explained that it had always been the policy of the Bank to support development programmes of countries it supported to ensure that those countries were in the driving seat as required by the March 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. “The World Bank only offered assistance in the areas of technical and human capacity in the proper management and application of donor funds to ensure that those funds went to reduce poverty, increased growth, built capacity and ensured speedy achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).” She said African media needed to be more analytical in their approach to monitoring the factors that determined the level of development in their countries. Ms Ezekwesili stated that African nations would need to invest in infrastructure, embark on economic reforms that allowed private sector participation, and tackled corruption in order to boost development. “For the continent to make meaningful development, Africa needs not only aid but also trade and investment,” Ezekwesili said adding that about $40 billion was required by African governments to fix their infrastructure alone. “Infrastructure gap in Africa is deep; $22 billion is needed annually and another $18 billion is required for maintenance and operations of the infrastructure,” she said. Source: Daily Guide