Barber Conable was a very respected U.S. politician prior to being appointed World Bank president. He is now under fire. Criticism centers on his bank's inability to reduce the burgeoning Third World debt. Some worry that the huge Third World debt will stall growth and thence create instability. The bank has followed the conservative fiscal policies of the man who appointed Conable to his office, Secretary of the Treasury James Baker. His policy is the one of lending new money rather than reducing the debt but this often ends up swamping the recipient countries with interest payments.
Barber Conable was a very respected New York politician prior to being appointed World Bank president. He is now under fire. Criticism centers on his bank's inability to reduce the burgeoning Third World debt. Some worry that the huge Third World debt will stall growth and thence create instability. The bank has followed the conservative fiscal policies of the man who appointed Conable to his office, Secretary of the Treasury James Baker. His policy is the one of lending new money rather than reducing the debt but this often ends up swamping the recipient countries with interest payments.