Iraq's Finance Minister Ali Allawi called for urgent reforms during his time in charge of Iraq's economy. AFP
Iraq's Finance Minister Ali Allawi called for urgent reforms during his time in charge of Iraq's economy. AFP
Iraq's Finance Minister Ali Allawi called for urgent reforms during his time in charge of Iraq's economy. AFP
Iraq's Finance Minister Ali Allawi called for urgent reforms during his time in charge of Iraq's economy. AFP

Eighty years on from Second World War, can the West still eradicate global poverty?


Lemma Shehadi
  • English
  • Arabic

When the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were established towards the end of Second World War, there was hope that the world's poorest countries could be modernised and poverty eradicated.

Yet 80 years on, poverty levels are stagnating, and with the exclusion of China, about 60 per cent of populations live below the poverty line.

The failures and successes of the push to end global poverty are traced in a new book by Iraq’s former finance minister Ali Allawi Rich World, Poor World: The Struggle to Escape Poverty.

“If you look at economic history in the developing world, there's certain kinds of patterns and themes. Very few countries managed to escape from relative poverty,” he told The National.

The 688-page book gives a detailed diagnosis of the economics of poverty in the developing world, following the creation of the IMF and the World bank at the Bretton Woods conference of 1944.

Yet it is those countries that broke away from the Western economists' line of thinking, that appear to have succeeded.

Now living in London, Mr Allawi draws on decades of experience, including his early travels as an employee of the World Bank, where he saw first-hand Western development aid at work.

“I'm not prescribing anything,” Mr Allawi insists, over tea at an unassuming London cafe – his local favourite – where he also meets former diplomats and other associates from his long career.

A new book by Iraq’s former finance minister Ali Allawi explores the successes and failures of the global effort to end poverty. EPA
A new book by Iraq’s former finance minister Ali Allawi explores the successes and failures of the global effort to end poverty. EPA

The book opens with Mr Allawi's childhood memories of travelling to Europe in the 1950s, where scenes of wartime destruction made him feel like things were distinctly better in Iraq. But despite Baghdad's burgeoning theatres, restaurants and hotels, “something lurked in the background”.

That something was poverty, which was everywhere, and would come back to haunt rapidly modernising countries. Iraq's 1958 revolution, which overthrew the monarchy long associated with British colonial interests, drove Mr Allawi's and Baghdad's elite families into exile.

After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Mr Allawi returned to the country for the first time, where he was appointed Minister of Trade in Iraq's interim government and Minister of Finance in the Iraqi Transitional Government of 2005.

The mishmash of policies adopted by the US-led occupation authorities, saw the dissolution of the old guard but with little reform to Iraq's institutions. Disillusioned, Mr Allawi spent two years in Singapore, studying the East Asian economic miracle which features prominently in his book.

He wrote of these experiences in his first book The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace (2007).

In 2022, he resigned from his latest appointment as Iraq's Finance Minister, citing a political impasse which had delayed the formation of the then-caretaker government. “All these experiences reinforced my desire to understand the processes of economic development,” he writes.

The new book – Mr Allawi's fourth – offers a bleak picture of what is to come.

Migration continues to grow, and many of the world’s poorest countries rely on the money sent back home from their nationals who work overseas. The long-term costs of people leaving, and the debts countries incurred with their large-scale development projects, far surpasses the foreign aid that they get.

These inequalities will only be exacerbated by the push towards greener economies and the disastrous effects of climate change.

Rich World, Poor World by Ali A. Allawai. Photo: Yale University Press
Rich World, Poor World by Ali A. Allawai. Photo: Yale University Press

The Bretton Woods approach

European colonial powers started considering development policies for their colonies somewhat reluctantly in the 1920s.

By 1944, the US led the push towards inviting the Allied developing nations – including Iraq and Chile– to Bretton Woods. European powers with their crumbling empires preferred to focus inward at their own decimated economies.

While this set the stage for the development of the World Bank and the IMF – it also paved the way for economic development policies that were tainted by colonial attitudes towards the developing world.

British economist John Maynard Keynes – the IMF's co-founder – referred to the developing countries at the conference as the “most monstrous monkey house assembled for years”.

Developing countries began to adopt the policies of Western economists where rapid infrastructure building was coupled with tightening budgets and raised taxes.

Though many – like Pakistan or Indonesia – were able to modernise rapidly and saw rapid growth, the wealth was concentrated among the new industrial elites.

The US vision to modernise the developing world was inseparable from its political battles of the Cold War, including its bloody entanglement in Vietnam.

English economist John Maynard Keynes (centre) was instrumental in the establishment of the International Monetary Fund. Getty Images
English economist John Maynard Keynes (centre) was instrumental in the establishment of the International Monetary Fund. Getty Images

The East Asian model

The emergence of East Asian countries by the 1980s marked a change in the trend – but their successes were little acknowledged by the international development community.

According to Mr Allawi, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore followed by China, often followed their own path rather than the “neoliberal Washington Consensus”, that was popularised by Western development agencies in the 1980s.

Mr Allawi notes that their policies were in fact “diametrically opposed” to Western prescriptions. “It took the World Bank 10 years to admit that the East Asian miracle had succeeded,” he said.

Their statist governments were aided by a “strong leadership focused on development”, and a political stability so that “policies are not overhauled” and institutions “didn’t change overnight”. Some, like South Korea, had developed under an American “security umbrella”, drawing their income from exports to the US.

People walk in the Central Business District in Singapore. The Singapore economy expanded by 2. 9 per cent in the second quarter on a year-on-year basis. EPA
People walk in the Central Business District in Singapore. The Singapore economy expanded by 2. 9 per cent in the second quarter on a year-on-year basis. EPA

Western aid institutions played a smaller role. “What the [countries] didn’t have is a long-term commitment to the various theses and policy principles coming out of the international agencies,” he said.

While the world was reeling from the collapse of the Soviet Union, China rose to become one of the world’s leading economies.

At the heart of this, Mr Allawi says, was a Chinese debate between the hardline reformers who pushed for an immediate “shock therapy” into the global marketplace, and those calling for a more gradual approach.

Their ultimate goal was to deregulate prices that had been set by the state for decades, and give more autonomy to state-owned industries.

Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping – a proponent of shock therapy – nonetheless played a delicate balancing act, allowing for economic reforms while maintaining its one party state.

Though Chinese economists met Eastern European reform economists, they opted for their own approaches and advice – an approach which Mr Allawi suggests contributed to their success.

“Deng knew that you can't do it in China without the control of the Communist Party. That's why when Tiananmen Square (revolt) came, he didn't hesitate to use brute force. It was either this or that,” he said.

Fragile Democracies

Mr Allawi does not shy away from acknowledging the authoritarian nature of these East Asian regimes at the time of their rapid rise. This is somewhat surprising given his years in the Iraqi opposition calling for democracy in Iraq. “I am disappointed by democracy – or what passes for democracy in our context,” he said.

“The framework of democracy in Iraq – its’ a failure. It’s a success in the sense that people are less fearful. There’s more freedoms. But these freedoms are being constrained now in a peculiar form of political power, which is an authoritarian form.”

The strongman-ruled democracies of Turkey and India, are one example of autocracy masking as democracy – a rising trend identified in the book. “It is an autocratic system with democratic trappings,” he said. Though the countries hold elections and companies and the media are privately owned, favour is skewed towards friends of the leaders.

The two countries emerged as major economies in the last two decades, under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yet the approach was ultimately fragile, the book argues. The economic booms of both countries, Mr Allawi argues, had more to do with groundwork that was laid before these leaders' ascent to power.

From left: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the 2023 BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. AFP.
From left: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the 2023 BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. AFP.

Western development aid

So what next for the Western financing institutions? Mr Allawi thinks that upstarts in the field, such as the BRIC’s New Development Bank, are unlikely to carry the same global weight as the Bretton Woods institutions in their pomp.

From his perspective, bilateral agreements, such as those China that has across Africa and Latin America, are emerging as a bigger competitor to Western development banks.

Yet there are fundamental structural reforms which Mr Allawi believes the World Bank and the IMF could follow.

The World Bank should re-centre its focus on the poorest countries – but it is constrained by its need to maintain a clean portfolio so that it continues to attract lenders. “The markets demand that you lend to China or India, which may not need (aid) any more, but don’t lend to Zambia. But this is where the money is most needed. There’s some kind of institutional deformity in the system,” he said.

People gather in the San Roque neighbourhood as commercial high-rise buildings stand in the background in Quezon City, Metro Manila, the Philippines. Getty Images
People gather in the San Roque neighbourhood as commercial high-rise buildings stand in the background in Quezon City, Metro Manila, the Philippines. Getty Images

The IMF struggled from offering advice that was “technically sound but politically unpalatable”, such as the devaluation of currencies. “Devaluations are generally extremely unpopular politically, and the short term consequence is inflation, but their medium and long term consequences are beneficial,” he said.

Voting powers within the boards of these institutions would need to be reviewed to give new emerging players a bigger voice – though there will be little political will to do this.

“The voting is skewed towards the Bretton Woods era which gives the Anglo-American alliance a huge share. How can that happen in the context of an emerging China or an emerging India? They’ve dealt with it by ignoring it,” he said.

Mr Allawi diagnoses the problem and sees the necessary changes. His recommendations are for an international system to adopt a more inclusive decision-making structure, where rising economic powers have a bigger say than in the days where the world was led by the West versus the rest.

Rich World Poor World: The Struggle to Escape Poverty is published by Yale University Press and is available in hardback or as an e-book.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Stamp%20duty%20timeline
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Company Profile

Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher:  Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

You Were Never Really Here

Director: Lynne Ramsay

Starring: Joaquim Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov

Four stars

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

UAE squad

Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.

UAE tour of Zimbabwe

All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I

Where to donate in the UAE

The Emirates Charity Portal

You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.

The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments

The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.

Al Noor Special Needs Centre

You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.

Beit Al Khair Society

Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.

Dar Al Ber Society

Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.

Dubai Cares

Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.

Emirates Airline Foundation

Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.

Emirates Red Crescent

On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.

Gulf for Good

Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.

Noor Dubai Foundation

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).

Mia Man’s tips for fermentation

- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut

- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.

- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.

- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.

 

The five pillars of Islam
While you're here

At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17

At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253

'Dark Waters'

Directed by: Todd Haynes

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, William Jackson Harper 

Rating: ****

How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
  • Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
  • Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
  • Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
  • Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Honeymoonish
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The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

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Brief scores:

Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first

Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)

Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14

Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)

Perera 47; Sohail 2-18

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ELamborghini%20LM002%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%205.2-litre%20V12%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20450hp%20at%206%2C800rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E500Nm%20at%204%2C500rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFive-speed%20manual%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E0-100kph%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%209%20seconds%20(approx)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETop%20speed%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20210kph%20(approx)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYears%20built%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201986-93%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20vehicles%20built%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20328%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EValue%20today%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24300%2C000%2B%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The 12 breakaway clubs

England

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur

Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus

Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid

if you go

The flights

Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes. 

The hotels

Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes. 

When to visit

March-May and September-November

Visas

Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.

Winners

Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)

Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)

Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)

Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)

Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)

Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)

Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)

Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)

Squad: Majed Naser, Abdulaziz Sanqour, Walid Abbas, Khamis Esmail, Habib Fardan, Mohammed Marzouq (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalid Essa, Muhanad Salem, Mohammed Ahmed, Ismail Ahmed, Ahmed Barman,  Amer Abdulrahman, Omar Abdulrahman (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif, Fares Juma, Mohammed Fawzi, Khalfan Mubarak, Mohammed Jamal, Ahmed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Ahmed Rashid, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Wahda), Tariq Ahmed, Mahmoud Khamis, Khalifa Mubarak, Jassim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Yousef Saeed (Sharjah), Suhail Al Nubi (Baniyas)

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Company%20Profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE%20HOLDOVERS
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What is a robo-adviser?

Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.

These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.

Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.

Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.

Super 30

Produced: Sajid Nadiadwala and Phantom Productions
Directed: Vikas Bahl
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Srivastav, Mrinal Thakur
Rating: 3.5 /5

Key findings of Jenkins report
  • Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
  • Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
  • Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
  • Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."

Russia's Muslim Heartlands

Dominic Rubin, Oxford

Dr Graham's three goals

Short term

Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines


Intermediate term

Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations


Long term

A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness  

SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPAD%20(2022)
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Updated: September 09, 2024, 11:55 AM`