Rollback
The Bank and the Fund have made full use of the new leverage
over Third World economies that accrued them during the debt
crisis. The right wing economic views made popular - the
Reagan- and Thatcherites came the reigning economic
orthodoxy at the Bank and the IMF. They launched a policy to
'structurally adjust' the Third World by deflating economies
and demanding a withdrawal of government not only from
public enterprise but also from compassionate support of the
basic health and welfare of the most vulnerable. Exports to
earn foreign exchange were privileged over almost all
production of food and other foods for domestic use. This
structuring was highly successful from the point of view of
the private banks who got $178 billion out of the South
between 1984 and 1990 alone. The Third World debt continued
to grow, reaching $1,300 billion by 1992. Much of this debt
has shifted particularly in the case of Africa - from
private banks to the IMF and the World Bank themselves.