Скачать или смотреть Arrivals for IMF summit

(23 Apr 2004)

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1. Wide exterior of the IMF headquarters
2. Close shot of IMF seal on building
3. Police officers walking outside IMF headquarters
4. Various of World Bank President James Wolfensohn arriving at IMF building with other delegates

POOL
5. Wolfensohn sitting at table just prior to G24 meeting
6. Various shots of G24 meeting

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7. Francois Bourguignon walks into IMF briefing room
8. Cutaway of press
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) World Bank Chief Economist Francois Bourguignon
"There is good news, which is that global poverty is falling in the world rather quickly. The main figure is that between 1980 and 2001, a twenty year period, the proportion of poor in developing countries went down from 40 percent to 21 percent. That is almost halving in 20 years."
10. Wide shot of Bourguignon at briefing table

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11. US Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan meeting with Iraqi delegates
12. Close shot of Greenspan
13. Iraq Finance Minister Kamel al-Keylani and Iraq Central Bank Governor Sinan Al-Shabibi walk over to meeting table

SOUNDBITE:

The world''s top finance officials gathered in Washington Friday for the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Finance officials from the G-24 nations met to discuss prospects for the global economy and whether more must be done to help the poorest nations.

The International Monetary Fund has criticized U.S. budget policies and wants to see quicker action to deal with the deficit so that interest rates don''t rise too rapidly and put a brake on the global economic growth.

The IMF also is worried about America''s rising current account trade deficit, the broadest measure of foreign trade measure of foreign trade,
which hit a record $541.8 (b) billion last year.

The concern is that if overseas investors lose confidence in loaning the United States money, the dollar''s value could sink, investors would flee, stocks would plunge and interest rates would soar.

Finance officials from the G-7 nations- the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy - begin their discussions Friday
night and continue Saturday morning.

Those talks are being held in advance of the spring meetings of the IMF and its sister institution, the World Bank,
which are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

As usual, protest groups demonstrated against the two lending agencies, using the theme of "Unhappy Birthday" in recognition of the both
organizations'' 60th anniversary.

World Bank President James Wolfensohn said he was concerned that the global war on terrorism was diverting attention from the pressing need to eliminate global poverty, often seen as a breeding ground for terrorists.

But the World Bank also had some good news to report on the war on global poverty.

Chief Economist Francois Bourguignon said the bank''s first annual review of the progress being made in cutting poverty reveals it is falling "rather quickly."

He said this was primarily because of strong economic growth in China and India. However, he said the World Bank''s review showed that many other regions of the world, including Africa, were falling behind.

The report said rich countries need to deliver on the promises they made at a conference in Monterrey, Mexico, to ensure that all of the Millennium Development Goals, which cover such areas as education, health and clean water, can be achieved.

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