World Bank Quotes

• The world is governed by institutions that are not democratic - the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO.

  Jose Saramago

  Imf, World, Institutions

  "Still a street-fighting man". Interview with Stephanie Merritt, www.theguardian.com. April 30, 2006.

  94 Copy quote

  Show source

• The IMF and the World Bank, the most opaque and secretive entities, put millions into NGOs who fight against "corruption" and for "transparency." They want the Rule of Law - as long as they make the laws. They want transparency in order to standardise a situation, so that global capital can flow without any impediment.

  Arundhati Roy

  Fighting, Order, Law

  Source: www.truth-out.org

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The World Bank is now the biggest culprit in the debt crisis.

  Susan George

  Debt, World, Culprit

  7 Copy quote

• The Muslim leaders swallow the advice of the Western powers and bodies like the IMF and World Bank, even when it is bad for their countries and they know this.

  Abu Bakar Bashir

  Country, Leader, Advice

  "'We Should Not Fear Being Called Radical'". Interview with Farish A. Noor, theseoultimes.com.

  31 Copy quote

  Show source

• I don't think anybody really thinks that one should get rid of the World Bank. Reform is one thing, but getting rid of it I think would be wrong.

  Joseph Stiglitz

  Thinking, World, Reform

  Source: www.progressive.org

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• We have, in this country, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it.

  Louis Thomas McFadden

  Country, Government, Practice

  "100 Years Is Enough: Time to Make the Fed a Public Utility" by Ellen Brown, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 23, 2013.

  52 Copy quote

  Show source

• We now know that climate action does not require economic sacrifice. This is fully in line with the World Bank Group's findings. It is up to all of us to make smart policy choices that will help combat climate change. For example, putting a price on carbon is a necessary step and could drive resources and investments to a cleaner economy.

  Sri Mulyani Indrawati

  Smart, Sacrifice, Climate Action

  6 Copy quote

• I want to eradicate poverty. I think that theres a tremendous passion for that inside the World Bank.

  Jim Yong Kim

  Passion, Thinking, World

  9 Copy quote

• I think that the movement against the World Bank, against the globalization process that is happening, is very positive. We need a globalization, a globalization of people who are committed to social justice, to economic justice. We need a globalization of people who are committed to saving this earth, to making sure that the water is drinkable, that the air is breathable.

  Assata Shakur

  Thinking, Air, People

  19 Copy quote

• The World Trade Organization, The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund and other financial institutions virtually write economic policy and parliamentary legislation. With a deadly combination of arrogance and ruthlessness, they take their sledgehammers to fragile, interdependent, historically complex societies and devastate them, all under the fluttering banner of 'reform'.

  Arundhati Roy

  Writing, Organization, Arrogance

  7 Copy quote

• I do wish that the IMF and the World Bank would disappear soon.

  Hugo Chavez

  Wish, Imf, World

  Source: www.progressive.org

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• It’s not that Monsanto is making money out of the blue. It’s making money by coercing and literally forcing people to pay for what was free. Take water, for instance. Water has always been free. We’ve never paid for drinking water. The World Bank says the reason water has been misused is because it was never commercially priced. But the reason it’s been misused is because it was wasted by the big users—industry, which polluted it.

  Vandana Shiva

  Drinking, Blue, People

  9 Copy quote

• I'd worked on leprosy and malaria in India [at the World Bank] and asked myself the question: Why do we let 2 million children die every year around the world for not having clean water? Because they're faceless and nameless. So, for me, Facebook looked like it was going to solve the problem of the invisible victim.

  Sheryl Sandberg

  Children, Work, Women

  "Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg: who are you calling bossy?" by Emma Brockes, www.theguardian.com. April 5, 2014.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• In 88 poor countries for which we have data, in each and every one of the 88, the PPP for food shows that poor people can buy less food than you would expect from the PPP that the World Bank is using. The reason for this is obvious on reflection. It has to do with the fact that most foodstuffs are tradable commodities: basic foodstuffs, such as rice, flour and beans, can easily be conveyed across national borders and their prices will therefore roughly mirror the exchange rates among currencies.

  Thomas Pogge

  Country, Reflection, Mirrors

  Source: www.truth-out.org

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Ya know, Hitler was this evil, evil man. But with the World Bank and Israel manipulating America, he might have been on to something.

  Zach Braff

  Men, Israel, America

  4 Copy quote

• The UK is the number one destination in European Union for inward investment, the World Bank has ranked the UK as the sixth easiest place in he world to do business, so any organisation that makes promises about investment in the UK should live up to those promises.

  James Brokenshire

  Numbers, Promise, Inward

  Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Well the specific role of the World Bank is to be ready with financial assistance immediately after this emergency takes place because you need to reconnect water, you need to reconnect power, you need roads, you need bridges, and that has to be done urgently.

  James Wolfensohn

  Power, Bridges, Water

  7 Copy quote

• To claim the World Bank is just an extension of US foreign policy is just wrong.

  Nicholas Stern

  World, Claims, Foreign Policy

  "Nicholas Stern: One global crisis after another" by John Crace, www.theguardian.com. March 25, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Today there are a lot places where people say they're just hopeless. If I can come from a hopeless country, get an education, become a hyphenated American and become president of the World Bank, it's my moral duty to make sure that every single person on the planet has that opportunity.

  Jim Yong Kim

  Country, Opportunity, People

  13 Copy quote

• We must work to repeal trade agreements that impede access to affordable generic drugs. We must work to cause the IMF and the World Bank to reduce and eventually eliminate the debt that takes poor nations' resources away from crises like AIDS. We must focus America's leadership on addressing and ending this epidemic.

  Dennis Kucinich

  Epidemics, Agreement, America

  7 Copy quote

• What gives these corporations like CONOCO, SHELL, EXXON, DIASHAWA, ITT, RIO TINTO ZINC, and the WORLD BANK a right which supercedes or is superior to my human right to live on my land, or that of my family, my community, my nation, our nations, and to us as women?

  Winona LaDuke

  Zinc, Land, Giving

  35 Copy quote

• It is vital that the World Bank Group continually challenges itself to refresh our development thinking. It is vital that a modernized multilateralism be open to new ideas.

  Robert Zoellick

  Thinking, Ideas, Challenges

  5 Copy quote

• According to the World Bank, the concentration of wealth and the structures of corporate economic power have no bearing on woman's rights.

  Michel Chossudovsky

  Concentration Of Wealth, Rights, World

  "The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order". Book by Michel Chossudovsky, 2003.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Once the violence has ceased, the US should immediately call on the World Bank and other international institutions to convene a donors conference to rebuild Lebanon's shattered infrastructure.

  John Conyers

  World, Lebanon, Violence

  21 Copy quote

• The United States has given frequent and enthusiastic support to the overthrow of democracy in favor of "investor friendly" regimes. The World Bank, IMF, and private banks have consistently lavished huge sums on terror regimes, following their displacement of democratic governments, and a number of quantitative studies have shown a systematic positive relationship between U.S. and IMF / World Bank aid to countries and their violations of human rights.

  Edward S. Herman

  Country, Government, Violation Of Human Rights

  10 Copy quote