January 29, 2002	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 14, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KABUL, Jan 28: A team of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund experts began talks with Afghan officials on Monday on ways to help revive the country’s shattered economy.

Buoyed by pledges of $4.5 billion in aid made at a donor’s conference in Tokyo last week, Afghanistan’s interim government is hoping a massive cash injection will kick-start the economy and provide an alternative to the years of conflict the country has endured.

But the World Bank and IMF officials say it is important that money spent on reconstruction is not squandered, and they want to closely manage development projects and infrastructure rebuilding.

“There is a lot of work to be done here, but I am confident that in the right conditions and with the right attitudes, we can be very successful,” said Alistair McKechnie, the World Bank’s country director for Afghanistan.

Mr McKechnie said the bank faced new challenges in trying to get Afghanistan on track, but would use models that were working successfully in countries such as Lebanon, Mozambique and East Timor.

“It is not only the infrastructure that has been destroyed here,” he told Reuters, “but also the institutions that are supposed to manage the infrastructure.

“Ideally we need a government structure that is small but well-balanced to manage the redevelopment.”

The IMF and World Bank team will be in Afghanistan for four days initially, meeting members of the interim administration and UN officials to come up with a quick-start formula for the country.

The interim government has said its priorities are security, education and infrastructure.

FIRST AID: Mr McKechnie said the initial focus of the Bank’s efforts would be “first aid”, but they were also looking at ways to help the country draw up a proper budget. The Taliban’s last official budget was just $90 million.

“It will be something along the lines of ‘there is a broken pump that needs to be repaired to deliver water to a lot of people,’ rather than, ‘Let’s buy a new pump and build a new water system’,” he said.

Mr McKechnie said he did not believe the temporary nature of the current Afghan administration would be a handicap for development projects.—Reuters