But World Bank President James Wolfensohn isn't at all satisfied. But, he said, the growth of the global economy hides the fact that per capita incomes in many developing countries are stagnating or going down, AIDS is an epidemic in Africa, and unemployment remains a serious problem in many countries. Poverty is much more than a matter of income alone, Wolfensohn told finance ministers and central bank governors from 182 nations. It's a lack of a sense of wellbeing, of good health and even of safety. And corruption takes its biggest toll on the poor.
Weak governance threatens to marginalize countries and whole peoples from the economic mainstream.
And it will keep them on the margins. What is needed, said Wolfensohn, is a new approach using coalitions which reflect the inter-related elements that make societies function effectively. This will require not only changing some of the formal rules of institutions, but some of the informal rules and norms as well. It can also be the unleashing of our combined effort and expertise to reach global solutions. We need to build coalitions for change.