2006年VOA标准英语-World Bank IMF Annual Meetings End First Day Wi

By Daniel Schearf
Singapore
19 September 2006
 
The first day of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary¹ Fund have ended in Singapore. Leaders of the two organizations expressed concern that high oil prices, global trade imbalances, and protectionism could disrupt economic growth. The best way to continue growth, they said, is to conserve² energy and return to stalled world trade talks. 

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Rodrigo de Rato speaks during opening session, Tuesday   
  
As the meetings began Tuesday, IMF chief Rodrigo de Rato warned that although the world economy and financial markets are strong, the outlook for future growth is not good.

He said energy conservation efforts were needed to combat high oil prices and lower inflation while action on deficits³ and currency exchange was needed to end global trade imbalances that could spark protectionism.

The chiefs of the IMF and World Bank also called on member countries to make efforts to re-start world trade negotiations⁴ suspended earlier this year.

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said all sides needed to compromise in order for progress to be made.

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz  
  
"The United States needs to accept further cuts in spending on trade-distorting agricultural subsidies," he said. "The European Union needs to reduce barriers to market access. And developing countries like China, India and Brazil need to cut their tariffs⁵ on manufactures."

De Rato and Wolfowitz also called for more aid for developing countries, especially in Africa, but said corruption⁷ was preventing development. Wolfowitz said good governance was the "fast-track" out of poverty and that without it all other reforms were meaningless.

But World Bank officials also urged the leading industrial nations to do more to fight corruption. They said developed nations should crack down on corrupt⁶ practices by multinationals⁸ in developing countries and should do more to help recover assets stolen from developing countries by corrupt officials.

Aid agencies and rights groups have worried that too much focus on preventing and punishing corruption could prevent poverty relief from going to the countries that need it most. The main effect of this, they say, is to hurt poor people living under corrupt governments.

World Bank officials say they will only pull out from projects when it is clear that corrupt officials will not make any efforts at reform.

 
Protesters display placards near the International Monetary Fund office in Hong Kong, September 19, 2006
  
Daniel Kaufmann, the director for Global Programs at the World Bank, says the anti-corruption campaign should not be misunderstood.

"Basically, this new strategy is one of deeper, better, and stronger engagement and not one of disengagement," he noted⁹.

World Bank officials say the anti-corruption campaign is not an anti-development campaign and that the two objectives of poverty relief and good governance are interlinked.

Wolfowitz says Africa would remain the Bank's number one concern for development.

Wolfowitz said there were signs of some progress with the number of African countries in conflict having declined from 13 to five in the last six years. But he said Sudan's conflict-ridden Darfur region was an exception.

"Darfur's desperate and poor are at risk of violent extinction¹⁰. The international community must act soon and act decisively to end the violence," said Wolfowitz.

However, he said Sudan was a grim exception with the people in the Darfur region at risk of "violent extinction."

Aid agencies and activists¹¹ have also called on the World Bank and IMF to give poor countries more say in how the two organizations are run and how money is spent.

Late Monday the IMF confirmed the 184 members voted approval of quota¹² reforms that gave China, Mexico, South Korea, and Turkey more voting rights while increasing their contributions to the Fund.

The four countries were considered to have the most imbalanced quota considering the size of the countries' economies.

1 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

2 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

3 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

6 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

7 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

8 multinationals   

跨国公司( multinational的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These local companies are only small fry compared with the huge multinationals. 同那些跨国公司比，这些当地的公司不过是小鱼小虾。
• Some people believe that the multinationals have too much power. 有人认为跨国公司的权力太大了。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。