document: THE World Bank will link loan volume to the strength of a country 's efforts to fight poverty , according to an operational directive to staff issued today by Mr Lewis Preston , the bank 's president . The link between loans and poverty relief forms part of a new drive to make poverty alleviation the bank 's central mission in the 1990s . The shift in priorities is also reflected in a commitment to make comprehensive assessments of the nature and extent of poverty in the third world , allowing the bank to design more effective policies to fight poverty . In the directive , Mr Preston says poverty reduction is ` the benchmark by which our performance as a development institution will be measured ' . He adds that the new instructions to staff are intended to ` ensure that these policies are fully reflected in the bank 's operations ' . The bank is also publishing a handbook containing examples of past best practice on poverty reduction . The bank says poverty assessments should be available for most developing countries within two years . These would form the basis for a ` collaborative approach to poverty reduction by country officials and the bank ' . The directive signals an attempt to impose a form of ` social conditionality ' on borrowing countries . ` Stronger government commitment to poverty reduction warrants greater support ; conversely , weaker commitment to poverty reduction warrants less support , ' it says . Mr Preston 's emphasis on poverty is a reaction to bank policies in the 1980s , when the aim was to improve economic efficiency in developing countries . The new directive says structural adjustment lending in the past decade ` overshadowed the bank 's poverty reduction objectives ' . The bank is also reacting to new evidence suggesting that the number of poor in developing countries will rise during the 1990s , rather than stabilise as had been expected . Poverty his judge , Page 34
extractive_keyphrases: third world world bank loan volume poverty relief poverty alleviation poverty assessments bank policies poverty reduction objectives