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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Greetings from a relatively new lbo-talk subscriber.
Thought the following would interest participants in the recent exchange on this
list, 'WB?No Thanks!'. Let's take as read all the usual caveats and
qualifications regarding politics and civil rights in Fidel's Cuba and prospects
post-Castro (alluded to in the last three grafs of this story).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Best wishes to all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Abid Aslam</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face=Arial></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman">Inter Press
Service</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman">Finance: Learn from Cuba,
says World Bank<BR>by Jim Lobe<BR>Washington, 30 Apr -- World Bank
President James Wolfensohn Monday extolled the Communist government of President
Fidel Castro for doing "a great job" in providing for the social welfare of the
Cuban people.<BR><BR>His remarks followed Sunday's publication of the Bank's
2001 edition of 'World Development Indicators' (WDI), which showed Cuba as
topping virtually all other poor countries in health and education
statistics.<BR><BR>It also showed that Havana has actually improved its
performance in both areas despite the continuation of the US trade embargo
against it, and the end of Soviet aid and subsidies for the Caribbean island
more than ten years ago.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman">"I think Cuba has done -- and
everybody would acknowledge -- a great job on education and health," Wolfensohn
told reporters at the conclusion of the annual spring meetings of the Bank and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "I have no hesitation in acknowledging
that they've done a good job, and it doesn't embarrass me to do it. ...We just
have nothing to do with them in the present sense, and they should be
congratulated on what they've done."<BR><BR>His remarks reflect a growing
appreciation in the Bank for Cuba's social record, despite recognition that
Havana's economic policies are virtually the antithesis of the "Washington
Consensus", the neo-liberal orthodoxy that has dominated the Bank's policy
advice and its controversial structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) for most of
the last 20 years.<BR><BR>Some senior Bank officers, however, go so far as to
suggest that other developing countries should take a very close look at Cuba's
performance.<BR><BR>"It is in some sense almost an anti-model," according to
Eric Swanson, the programme manager for the Bank's Development Data Group, which
compiled the WDI, a tome of almost 400 pages covering scores of economic,
social, and environmental indicators.<BR><BR>Indeed, Cuba is living proof in
many ways that the Bank's dictum that economic growth is a pre-condition for
improving the lives of the poor is over-stated, if not downright wrong. The Bank
has insisted for the past decade that improving the lives of the poor was its
core mission.<BR><BR>Besides North Korea, Cuba is the one developing country
which, since 1960, has never received the slightest assistance, either in advice
or in aid, from the Bank. It is not even a member, which means that Bank
officers cannot travel to the island on official business.<BR><BR>The island's
economy, which suffered devastating losses in production after the Soviet Union
withdrew its aid, especially its oil supplies, a decade ago, has yet to fully
recover. Annual economic growth, fuelled in part by a growing tourism industry
and limited foreign investment, has been halting and, for the most part,
anaemic.<BR><BR>Moreover, its economic policies are generally anathema to the
Bank. The government controls virtually the entire economy, permitting private
entrepreneurs the tiniest of spaces. It heavily subsidises virtually all staples
and commodities; and its currency is not convertible to anything. It retains
tight control over all foreign investment, and often changes the rules abruptly
and for political reasons.<BR><BR>At the same time, however, its record of
social achievement has not only been sustained; it's been enhanced, according to
the WDI.<BR><BR>It has reduced its infant mortality rate from 11 per 1,000
births in 1990 to seven in 1999, which places it firmly in the ranks of the
western industrialised nations. It now stands at six, according to Jo Ritzen,
the Bank's Vice President for Development Policy, who visited Cuba privately
several months ago to see for himself.<BR><BR>By comparison, the infant
mortality rate for Argentina stood at 18 in 1999; Chile's was down to ten; and
Costa Rica, at 12. For the entire Latin American and Caribbean region as a
whole, the average was 30 in 1999.<BR><BR>Similarly, the mortality rate for
children under the age of five in Cuba has fallen from 13 to eight per thousand
over the decade. That figure is 50% lower than the rate in Chile, the Latin
American country closest to Cuba's achievement. For the region as a whole, the
average was 38 in 1999.<BR><BR>"Six for every 1,000 in infant mortality - the
same level as Spain - is just unbelievable," according to Ritzen, a former
education minister in the Netherlands. "You observe it, and so you see that Cuba
has done exceedingly well in the human development area."<BR><BR>Indeed, in
Ritzen's own field, the figures tell much the same story. Net primary enrolment
for both girls and boys reached 100% in 1997, up from 92% in 1990. That was as
high as most developed nations - higher even than the US rate and well above
80-90% rates achieved by the most advanced Latin American
countries.<BR><BR>"Even in education performance, Cuba's is very much in tune
with the developed world, and much higher than schools in, say, Argentina,
Brazil, or Chile."<BR><BR>It is no wonder, in some ways. Public spending on
education in Cuba amounts to about 6.7% of gross national income, twice the
proportion in other Latin American and Caribbean countries and even
Singapore.<BR><BR>There were 12 primary school pupils for every Cuban teacher in
1997, a ratio that ranked with Sweden, rather than any other developing country.
The Latin American and East Asian average was twice as high at 25 to
one.<BR><BR>The average youth (age 15-24) illiteracy rate in Latin America and
the Caribbean stands at 7%. In Cuba, the rate is zero. In Latin America, where
the average is 7%, only Uruguay approaches that achievement, with one percent
youth illiteracy.<BR><BR>"Cuba managed to reduce illiteracy from 40% to zero
within ten years," said Ritzen. "If Cuba shows that it is possible, it shifts
the burden of proof to those who say it's not possible."<BR><BR>Similarly, Cuba
devoted 9.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) during the 1990s to health
care, roughly equivalent to Canada's rate. Its ratio of 5.3 doctors per 1,000
people was the highest in the world.<BR><BR>The question that these statistics
pose, of course, is whether the Cuban experience can be replicated. The answer
given here is probably not.<BR><BR>"What does it, is the incredible dedication,"
according to Wayne Smith, who was head of the US Interests Section in Havana in
the late 1970s and early 1980s and has travelled to the island many times since.
"Doctors in Cuba can make more driving cabs and working in hotels, but they
don't. They're just very dedicated," he said.<BR><BR>Ritzen agreed that the
Cuban experience probably couldn't be applied wholesale to another poor country,
but insisted that developing countries can learn a great deal by going to the
island.<BR><BR>"Is the experience of Cuba useful in other countries? The answer
is clearly yes, and one is hopeful that political barriers would not prevent the
use of the Cuban experience in other countries. Here, I am pretty hopeful, in
that I see many developing countries taking the Cuban experience well into
account."<BR><BR>But the Cuban experience may not be replicable, he went on,
because its ability to provide so much social support "may not be easy to
sustain in the long run".<BR><BR>"It's not so much that the economy may collapse
and be unable to support such a system, as it is that any transition after
Castro passes from the scene would permit more freedom for people to pursue
their desires for a higher standard of living." The trade-off, according to
Ritzen, may work against the welfare system that exists now.<BR><BR>"It is a
system, which on the one hand, is extremely productive in social areas and
which, on the other, does not give people opportunities for more
prosperity."</FONT><BR><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>