Wolfowitz Speeds World Bank Aid, Raising Corruption Concerns (William McQuillen)

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World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is speeding up aid to war-scarred countries in an initiative that may conflict with his long-standing campaign against corruption.

By William McQuillen

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is speeding up aid to war-scarred countries in an initiative that may conflict with his long-standing campaign against corruption.

The Washington-based international lending organization plans to cut the time it takes to approve loans to ``disaster areas'' to three months from nine and will give recipients more leeway in how money is spent. Congo, slated to get $1.4 billion as the first to benefit from the new policy, is ranked among the world's most corrupt countries by Transparency International, a Berlin-based group devoted to fighting corruption.

Wolfowitz has suspended loans to Chad, Kenya, India and Bangladesh in his drive to keep money from disappearing into the pockets of crooked politicians. Now he's trying to reconcile that goal with the need to deliver swift aid to countries struggling to recover from wars and natural disasters.

``There's no doubt this will increase the opportunities for corruption,'' Ian Vasquez, director of the Project on Global Economic Liberty at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based research group that promotes limited government, said in an interview. ``Their main problem is to find a way to balance lending with fighting corruption, and I'm not sure anyone has found a solution.''