The development experience of China will help the World Bank
"shore up" its leading role in global poverty reduction, the bank's
new chief economist and senior vice president Justin Yifu Lin said
in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday.
World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick on Monday announced the
appointment of the Beijing University professor as chief economist
and senior vice president for development economics.
"The World Bank can only consolidate its role as a leader in the
global anti-poverty movement by coming up with effective measures,"
said Lin. "In this regard, China can provide useful
experience."
Lin is the first economist from a developing country to hold the
post in the World Bank. He succeeds France's Francois Bourguignon,
who served at the bank from 2003 to October 2007.
Lin's posts in China include vice chairman of the All-China
Federation of Industry and Commerce. A professor at Beijing
University since 1993, he is known for work on economic and
agricultural reforms as well as rural modernization.
"This appointment is a high honor, and it's a historic decision
for the World Bank," said Lin. "By picking a candidate from China,
the World Bank will be able to better serve developing
countries.
"More developing countries are becoming emerging economies. They
are not short of loans, but the wealth gap in these countries is
widening."
Lin believed the dependence of developing countries on the World
Bank was declining because the need for financial assistance was
becoming less vital.
"The World Bank can help developing countries reduce poverty by
offering expertise. This is what makes it different from other
financial institutions," Lin said.
The bank could not solve all the problems in developing nations,
but it could focus on exploring successful models that private
financial institutions could follow.
As the world's largest development agency, the World Bank needed
a thorough understanding of the needs and constraints of developing
countries, Lin said. "This is the significance of the election of a
chief economist from a developing country.
"The World Bank has a clear and lofty objective of poverty
alleviation, but without adequate understanding of the practical
problems, the good intentions may go awry," he said.
"Africa has the most pressing need for outside help in reducing
poverty and it is the World Bank's primary concern in poverty
alleviation."
He hoped the World Bank could help African countries find a
successful development path.
"I will work with the other 700 economists of the World Bank to
select research directions and topics, understand their long-term
restraints, challenges and opportunities. Then we'll explore a
theoretical framework to address the problems," Lin said.
"I will promote cooperation between the World Bank and China,
for example, in creating a mechanism in which China and the World
Bank can play greater roles in the issues of African
development."
Lin planned to officially assume office at the end of May after
teaching spring courses at Beijing University and completing work
at the China Center for Economic Research (CCER).
Zoellick said in a statement on Monday, "As our first chief
economist from a developing country, and an expert on economic
development and particularly agriculture, Justin Lin brings a
unique set of skills and experience to the World Bank Group."
Poverty alleviation is a key objective for the World
Bank."Globalization must not leave the bottom billion behind," said
Zoellick in October last year. "The World Bank Group faces the
challenge of helping to overcome poverty and spur sustainable
growth in the poorest countries."
Previous chief economists include Stanley Fischer, Lawrence
Summers and Joseph Stiglitz.
The 56-year-old Lin is China's most prominent economist and
director of CCER, a top government think tank based at the elite
Beijing University. Many of his proposals on rural issues,
state-owned enterprise reform and income distribution have been
adopted by the central government.
Because of his international record in development economics,
Lin is considered the leading Chinese contender for the Nobel prize
in economics.
"Poverty in developing countries is not predestined. If [these
countries] can find a suitable development model, they will release
enormous potential," Lin said.
Likening China's experience to "crossing the river while
touching the stones", Lin said that China had taken a gradual
approach to making the complete transition from a planned economy
to a market economy.
"That is, always study the new problems and try different
solutions step by step," he said. "These are the reform strategies
of emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts and advancing
with the times."
Lin, born in Taiwan, studied at Beijing University before
obtaining a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago.
Last November, he became the first Chinese scholar to speak at the
world-renowned biennial Marshall Lectures at Cambridge
University.
In the speech, Lin pointed out that although some of the
policies of China and Vietnam were not in line with market economy
practices, these countries still achieved lasting, rapid growth. In
contrast, Eastern Europe and Latin America, while liberalizing
faster, fell behind the development of China and Vietnam.
So, he said, he believed that gradual reform and transition
could achieve fast growth while maintaining social stability.
?
(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2008)
