World Bank Warns Record Debt Burdens Haunt Developing Economies
New York TimesJUL 2023
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Since its inception, the World Bank has played an instrumental role in global economic development. The investments from the bank play a crucial role in global infrastructure projects and some of its initiatives play critical roles in helping fragile and conflict-stricken states. This essential work must continue.
Establishment-critical narrative
The World Bank and its policies are not devoid of criticism and controversy. The bank's loan policies contribute to a damaging cycle of loan dependency, in which recipient countries become continuously dependent on external financing. Additionally, the bank's neoliberal principles are extremely Western-centric, contributing to this uneven power structure between the global south and the rest of the world.
Metaculus Prediction
There's a 50% chance that the World GDP in 2028 will be at least 112 trillion (in 2010 USD), according to the Metaculus prediction community.
