In September 1981, France invited the "low
income countries" to UNESCO, in an attempt to find a
solution to their acute problems. On this subject, it is
useful to review a proposal respecting the monetary
problems.
The International Monetary Fund creates units of
Special Drawing Rights (S.D.R.s) distributed among three
branches, allotted to member countries in proportion to
their quotas, so that the developing countries, whose
quotas are small, only receive a reduced allocation.
The allotment of S.D.R.s for development answers a
wish many times expressed by Third World countries and
constantly turned down by industrial countries, apposed
to the supranational, political power that the agency
entrusted to apportion them would be endowed with.
A proposal which avoids this difficulty was published
in the September 1979 issue of "Forum for Development",
an international United Nations magazine. A French
economist, who died recently, Charles WARIN, a graduate
of the French Polytechnic Institute, suggested that
S.D.R.s created by the International Money Fund be
channeled to the World Bank so they may be used for
provision of interest bonuses, on long term loans for
rural development.
Those loans would provide for numerous, miscellaneous
enterprises, on village or small towns scale, which would
be undertaken following the needs of the people
themselves and mostly with the help of local labor and
local means : digging wells, sewage, road building, soil
improvement, building of schools, maternity wards, silos,
repairing-shops, etc..
With the help of world Bank executives sent to the
location who would look over the cost and execution of
these projects, the World Bank loans would be used, step
by step, as each program is being achieved, not above its
cost, therefore in accordance to the ability of the
country receiving the loan to a self-supporting
position.
