World Bank – praag.org

Karel Combrinck: Too good to be true

Recently it was announced that very large sums of money emanating fom various sources have been ear-marked for aid to the South African government to help it address problems arising from the Covid-19 epidemic. An amount of 4,3 billion Dollars (US$ 4 300 000 000) was among others allocated by the International Monetary Fund. Even more amazingly, a loan was made to the South African government by (believe it it not ) by the African Development Bank. As is generally known in South Africa, a considerable portion of these funds have already been stolen or misappropriated (in South Africa “misappropriated” is a euphemism for stolen). How much, if any, of these funds will ever go towards relieving the plight of ordinary South Africans remains to be seen. What we do know is that nothing will go to South African whites as has been decided by the racist ANC government.

Questions that arise are first of all, where do the immense sums of money come from which the IMF so lavishly throws around and whence the generosity towards the incompetent and corrupt South African government? The question is made more poignant by the fact that all three the most important credit-rating agencies have awarded South Africa the well-deserved distinction of junk status.

The IMF was established in 1944 at the UN Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, USA. The original purpose was to place the world economy back on track after the devastation of the World War. Twenty-nine countries signed the treaty at the time and 189 countries subsequently joined. The activities of the IMF are therefore funded largely by contributions made by member states on a quota basis, that is to say each member contributes according to the size of its economy. The moneys in the final instance come from the pockets of ordinary tax payers as usual.

A further question concerns the generosity of the IMF towards South Africa. Voices have been heard expressing surprise, indeed dismay, at the billions “lent” to a bankrupt state from which there is little chance that the moneys will ever be recovered. Over the explanation for this apparent idiocy we can only speculate. A purely economic initiative it is clearly not. One possible explanation is that the ” international community ” represented in the IMF which were largely responsible for the creation of a junk democracy in South Africa cannot stand by idly while their creature is failing. Under normal circumstances too many questions would have been asked, but now, of course, they have the Covid-19 smokescreen to hide behind.

In the unlikely event of the loan ever being repaid after having been plundered, then it will be at the expense, once again, of the South African taxpayer. Paying taxes is the one right to which white South Africans are fully entitled. But, we suppose, this is what the international community regard as ” fair “.

There is also the possibility that in the case of non-repayment of their loan that the IMF could force the South African Government to sell national assets as happened in Greece where the Greek government had to sell their main sea port of Piraeus, a number of islands, historical monuments and art works as well as fourteen airports in order to repay their loan debts. It is dangerous to place oneself at the mercy of the great financial forces of this world. Such concerns are however immaterial in the eyes of the ANC fat cats interested only in the short-term gravy train. And at the moment, for them, the going is too good to be true.

France, Germany, Italy join China’s Infrastructure Investment Bank

France, Germany and Italy have confirmed they’ll join China’s new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Participation in the rival to the US-led World Bank is seen as a setback for the Obama administration.

The three European countries on Tuesday confirmed in a statement they intend “to become founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,” according to AFP.

“We want to bring our long experience… to help the bank build a solid reputation,” said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, speaking also for Italy and France at a joint press conference with Chinese Deputy-Premier Ma Kai on Tuesday in Berlin. He added that the three countries want to make a contribution to the positive development of the Asian economy, in which German companies were actively taking part.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei welcomed the decision, saying “the AIIB is an open and inclusive multilateral investment institution.”

“Participation by countries outside the region will intensify the extensive representatives of the AIIB,” he added.

The decision of the three European countries comes after Britain last week became the first Western country to agree to become a founding member of the AIIB, FT reports. The UK government said the decision was in the country’s national interest, but it got a negative reaction from the United States.

The new China-led bank is expected to challenge the Washington-based World Bank, so the US is increasing pressure on its allies not to join the institution. The US’ concern is that the new investment bank might not have high standards of governance and environmental and social safeguards.

The new bank is expected to challenge the Western dominance of the US-led World Bank and IMF in global infrastructure projects, which experts believe will create healthy competition.

South Korea, Switzerland and Luxembourg were also considering joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Financial Times reported.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he would make a final decision on AIIB membership soon. South Korea and other countries are in discussions with China over possible participation.

China’s main regional rival Japan said earlier this month that Asian countries including Japan have until March 31 to decide on becoming AIIB founding members.

“They told us they are considering. Whether Japan will join, we do not know. It is Japan’s own decision,” Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Nearly 30 countries have confirmed their participation in the AIIB, which is aimed at helping finance infrastructure projects across Asia and is expected to come into being this year.

The AIIB was formally launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, and is expected to become a tool of a broader Chinese push for growing international power and economic significance.

World Bank warms to Zim

THE World Bank and donors will next year contribute more than $100 million to the Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund as the Bretton Woods institute warms up to re-engagement with Zimbabwe following years of acrimony.

Six donors, the European Union, United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Denmark and Sweden and the World Bank State and Peace Building Fund are contributing $44 million to the Zimref currently but the fund is expected to be topped up next year.

Addressing the media yesterday, WB country director for Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia Ms Kundhavi Kadiresan said Zimref will expand the bank’s support to include investment projects and to channel some financing directly through Government systems.

Zimref will allow Government flexibility to tackle some of the urgent reform measures in the areas of parastatals reform which will include a comprehensive due diligent audit to cover issues of management systems and capacity and will include turnaround strategies.

“Under Zimref there is going to be $15 million to be made readily available next year. It is giving me the discretion to use the money to carry out these audits. We will start naturally with the strategic ones,” said Minister Chinamasa.

“The audit is not just with respect to parastatals but also with respect to local authorities because between them the State enterprises and the local authorities are a pain and an albatross around the neck of the fiscus,” he said.

Early this month the WB executive board approved the Kariba Dam rehabilitation project financed to the tune of $75 million from the International Development Association and co-financing from the Government of Sweden of $25 million.

In addition, African Development Bank will provide $75 million and the European Union $100 million, for a total project financing of $300 million.

The Zimbabwe Government is also contributing counterpart financing through the Zambezi River Authority.

The project was approved on an exceptional basis that allows World Bank financing to be on-lent by the Zambian government to the Zambezi River Authority and to ultimately benefit Zimbabwe.

The bank is also providing a $6 million grant from Co-operation in International Waters Africa to support preparation of the Batoka Gorge Hydro-Electric Scheme.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the Government will, in the next couple of months, start “a conversation” with the WB on Zimbabwe’s arrears to the financial institution.

Source: The Herald

‘The goal of sanctions is a color revolution in Russia’

The goal of Western economic sanctions is a “color revolution” in Russia, Russian Academy of Sciences presidium member, academician Yevgeny Primakov is convinced. He told TASS in a jubilee interview of conspiracy theories around oil prices, the U-turn of Russia’s economy to the East and the role of informal diplomacy in conditions of a political crisis. On October 29, Yevgeny Primakov, who consecutively headed the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Foreign Ministry and the government, turns 85.

– How large-scale can the influence of reciprocal sanctions be on the global policy and economy?

– I can’t agree with the term “reciprocal sanctions”. The sanctions imposed by the United States and their allies against Russia are one thing. And response measures taken by Russia are quite another thing. The aim of anti-Russian economic sanctions is to weaken Russia, corner us, put into practice the idea of a “color revolution” in our country. The response measures that in their scale are not comparable to anti-Russian sanctions are mainly aimed to create an atmosphere that does not favor escalation of sanctions imposed by the West. Of course, in such a situation, a signal is sent to relevant departments and businesses on the required support for the domestic producer in order to loosen our dependence on imports, especially in the food sphere.

Economic sanctions without a relevant decision of the UN Security Council are a measure that contradicts global processes – both economic ones aimed to develop interaction in the interests of all countries, and political ones who solve the problems of creating various systems of counteraction to the real threats to the security of the modern world.

– Has escalation of the conflict discredited the leading institutions of international economic cooperation – the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the IMF? Do they require transformation?

– The development of the conflict imposed on us by the United States directly contradicts the principles that underlie the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF, but it does not mean that Russia should quit these institutions of international economic cooperation. Even in conditions of the changed global situation, Russia does not accept a course for self-isolation.

– Does the role of informal diplomacy grow in conditions of political contradictions? In particular, do you think that representatives of big business of Russia, the US and the EU will contribute to rapprochement of political positions of the countries involved in the confrontation?

– Informal diplomacy is especially important now, including at the level of Russian, American and European businesses, interested, it seems, not in destruction but in creation, in development, first of all, of economic cooperation.

– Has China retained the status of the United States’ arch geopolitical rival against the cool-off in Russian-US relations? Or is it now Russia?

– As far as economics is concerned, in the context of the existing inter-dependence of the United States and China their competition is unlikely to fade into the background, particularly so now, that the Chinese economy has taken first place. At the same time, I do not believe that one should project this situation to the worsening of relations between the United States and Russia, which by no means signifies that Russia positions itself as the United States’ main geopolitical rival.

‘Russian Invasion’

How long is screaming ‘Wolf!’ having an impact of the Western Populations? – Until Full Spectrum Dominance has been attained?

by Peter Koenig

Interestingly, most of us who are seeking the truth are primarily attempting to undo the lies – lies umpteen times repeated, lies about Russian invasions, first proclaimed by Poroshenko, Ukraine’s oligarch leader (sic), lies of Russia not respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty, demonization against President Putin, Malaysian airliners downed by Russia – and-so-on. The latest accusation is that JP Morgan and four other Wall Street banks have been hacked. And the culprit is…. Of, course Russia, according to the presstitute MSM.

It doesn’t matter whether what Poroshenko said and is repeated the world over was based on a translation error (according to the German Tagesschau, the German mainstream TV news) – or whether it is just a conventional lie continuously repeated until it becomes the truth à la Goebbels – the western bought propaganda machine takes full advantage of this hundreds of years old simple strategy of deception.

The interesting part, however, is that hardly anyone on that very occasion is presenting the counter-weight, so to speak, namely to what extent Kiev is assisted by US paid mercenaries, CIA military and strategic advisers and their equipment, all paid for in one way or another by the State Department, CIA, or NATO. And these are facts. Not inventions for deception.

There is enough proof about who caused the 22 February 2014 coup (Maidan) – Madame Nuland, Kerry’s assistant, bragged about it at the Washington Press club – remember the US$ 5 billion investment in Ukraine’s regime change that cannot be let go down the drain because of the f….ing Europeans. She was caught hot-handed or hot-voiced on the phone with the US Ambassador in Kiev.

Ever since that infamous coup, the US / NATO and the EU have had their dirty hands in Kiev’s Nazi killer junta – otherwise the Kiev thugs would have never had either the courage or the military knowledge to advance to the Donbas area of Ukraine, where they were literally ordered to kill their brothers. Some of them with some conscience defected early on; then they were accompanied under threats of life by CIA ‘advisers’. Eventually they defected by the thousands because of lack of food and ammunition and the resulting low-low morale.

It is actually irrelevant whether Russia has troops and armory in East Ukraine. In fact it would be well justified for Russia to defend her countrymen from savage slaughter, as many Donbas citizens are originally Russians. But – they don’t, as Mr. Putin is too smart to spoil his diplomatic assets on a war that is already lost by Kiev.

Be this as it may, why do we, truth seekers, at a time of Obama’s lie exclamations and countless media repetitions not present more frequently the US / NATO invasion in Ukraine and their assistance to the Kiev murderers, rather than always being on the defensive, undoing lies in defense of Russia?

The truth of what the US-NATO killing machine, its vassal EU states and its paid mercenaries are up to in Ukraine, and that they won’t let go regardless of what Obama mutters to tranquilize the world — the truth is in one way or another Washington is committed to its financial and corporate elite to achieve Full Spectrum Dominance, meaning complete subjugation of the world to Washington’s masters, the military-security industrial complex and the war financing monetary system – FED-Wall Street-IMF, the latter being a mere extension of the US Treasury.

The Endgame means encircling Russia and China with more NATO bases, including in Ukraine and Moldova, as close as possible to Moscow’s doorsteps; and, foreseen by 2015, with 60% of the US naval fleet in the South China Sea.

We should not be detracted by the day-to-day details and lies, by the fires that flare up here and there, though all horrible, killing thousands of people; we should not be confused by ‘who is doing what?’ – But rather focus on the Big Picture, the intentions behind the US / NATO killing machine, not so much by denying the obvious lies, but rather by describing actual facts and the long-term strategy behind them.

Obama screamed again ‘wolf’ today, literally shouting – ‘Russia has invaded Ukraine, Russia’s military and equipment are in Ukraine, Russia is funding the separatists’ — then adds, ‘but it’s not in the cards for America to intervene now.’

Don’t be fooled. Obama and his masters won’t go away. He says the same about American intervention in Syria – it’s not the right time, while arming and bombing (as a disguise) at the same time ISIS, created and funded in 2007 by Washington under successively different names to further confuse the public at large. At that time they came out of Turkey as Syrian Freedom Fighters, later they converted into the Al’Nusra Front of rebels, and now they are the ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also called the Islamic State of the Levant.

This will do until the public needs to be again confused with a new group of Islamic terrorists to justify continuous wars on terror – to feed continuously the fat profit accounts of the eternal war lords. But only, if we the people let them confuse and deceive and divide us.

At the same time, Washington’s warmonger-in-chief, encourages his EU puppets to intervene and sending their troops into Ukraine, and imposing still more ‘sanctions’ on Russia. Let Europe take the hit if there is war. Not for nothing are NATO bases spiked throughout Europe, convenient targets for Russian missiles. – One could wonder – are the Europeans blind or just don’t care – or their leaders (sic) bought to the point where they hope to just disappear to America’s paradise when Russian rockets hit their countries’ NATO bases – and let their people smolder under nuclear dust?

We the 99.99% have all the powers to stop these US instigated murderous aggressions, by rejecting the continuously lying and deceiving propaganda machine, by rejecting and refusing to listen to the corporate presstitute media.

A few weeks ago there was hope that German Chancellor Merkel would see the light, would abandon the bandwagon of the ‘sanctioners’, because not only did she get a lot of pressure from German industrialists, but also the German people are worried about their energy supply – especially this coming winter. Germany depends by up to 40% on Russia for their energy supplies.

Unfortunately we were wrong. Madame Merkel bent over backwards to please Obama. The naked emperor convinced her not to leave his sinking ship. – What does he have up his imaginary sleeve? Anything he may have discovered by eavesdropping on her cellphone conversations? – So strong to sway her away from reason to the detriment of all of Europe? – These latest sanctions are backlashing on the EU, especially the farmers, a multiple times harder than they hit Russia. European agriculture and mostly small farmers, are losing billions of euros worth on stalled exports to Russia of meat, vegetables, fruit and other food stuff, because Russia retaliated by blocking imports from the EU. Russia is now establishing new trade routes with Latin America.

On 18 September Obama will meet at the White House with Poroshenko, to be sure he stays in line and doesn’t sway Putin’s way, because corrupt oligarchs tend to be not very reliable. Obama may promise him premature entry to NATO and all the fake fiat dollars that come with it.

It would not be a surprise if Obama were also to receive Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the ‘new’ ISIS caliphate, to assure him of America’s continuous support, if he lets him bomb them, the ISIS troops that is, ever so often, just for show and to confuse the public mind – and, of course, as a disguise to bomb Syria to eventually topple Baschar al-Assad for – regime change.

Obama may also promise the ISIS a key role in the new Syrian government – provided he succeeds in regime change (for now unlikely) – similar as he did to the ‘rebels’ and other Islamic fractions of Libya. What Obama needs are not well-organized new regimes, but civil wars, fighting sections of societies to keep populations dying, and those still alive on their toes, fighting for their daily survival and fleeing across borders into refugee camps of other lands, thereby swallowing up neighboring countries resources and creating anger in the local population – the old divide to rein tactic.

The Big Picture is important. The people need to see it, the End Game – what is expecting them, if they – we, the 99.99% – are not taking actions to prevent Full Spectrum Dominance from succeeding.

Peter Koenig is an economist and former World Bank staff. He worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. He writes regularly for Global Research, ICH, the Voice of Russia and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe.

BRICS to set up own IMF

Very soon, the IMF will cease to be the world’s only organization capable of rendering international financial assistance. The BRICS countries are setting up alternative institutions, including a currency reserve pool and a development bank.

The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have made significant progress in setting up structures that would serve as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which are dominated by the U.S. and the EU. A currency reserve pool, as a replacement for the IMF, and a BRICS development bank, as a replacement for the World Bank, will begin operating as soon as in 2015, Russian Ambassador at Large Vadim Lukov has said.

Brazil has already drafted a charter for the BRICS Development Bank, while Russia is drawing up intergovernmental agreements on setting the bank up, he added.

In addition, the BRICS countries have already agreed on the amount of authorized capital for the new institutions: $100 billion each. “Talks are under way on the distribution of the initial capital of $50 billion between the partners and on the location for the headquarters of the bank. Each of the BRICS countries has expressed a considerable interest in having the headquarters on its territory,” Lukov said.

It is expected that contributions to the currency reserve pool will be as follows: China, $41 billion; Brazil, India, and Russia, $18 billion each; and South Africa, $5 billion. The amount of the contributions reflects the size of the countries’ economies.

Source: Vz.ru

How to join the New World Order

Investigative reporter Greg Palast has documented a method that is part of a tried and tested formula that the IMF has used time and time again to absorb nations into the new world order.

In April 2001, Palast obtained leaked World Bank documents that outlined a four step process on how to loot nations of their wealth and infrastructure, placing control of resources into the hands of the banking elite.

One of the final steps of the process, the “IMF riot,” detailed how the elite would plan for mass civil unrest ahead of time that would have the effect of scaring off investors and causing government bankruptcies.

“This economic arson has its bright side – for foreigners, who can then pick off remaining assets at fire sale prices,” writes Palast, adding, “A pattern emerges. There are lots of losers but the clear winners seem to be the western banks and US Treasury.”

In other words, the banking elite creates the very economic environment – soaring interest rates, spiraling food prices, poverty, lower standards of living – that precipitates civil unrest – and then like a vulture swoops down to devour what remains of the country’s assets on the cheap.

Just as the US State Department foresaw the Arab Spring, with some of the same people involved in the Euromaidan movement training future Arab Spring leaders how to effectively use Twitter and Facebook years before the protests began, the Ukraine uprising was also entirely predictable.

The elite is so successful at hijacking supposedly grass roots revolts and turning them into managed acts of regime change because mass civil unrest is mathematically predictable.

As Dilip D’Souza explains, “There’s mathematical research that suggests a link between food prices and the occurrence of riots. And this research has pretty accurately predicted the unrest we’ve seen in so many corners of the globe.”

Research has confirmed that when the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index (FPI) rises above 210, unrest quickly follows in the areas of the world most affected. The most recent three countries to suffer food price hikes? Thailand, Venezuela and Ukraine.

Armed with this foresight, this is how global bodies like the IMF, the US State Department and the menagerie of western NGOs that fuel or hijack uprisings around the globe are able to seize control of the outcome.
With the IMF set to sink its teeth into yet another sovereign nation, even as Russia attempts to stir up a counter-revolution, Euromaidan protesters would do well to read up on the history of nations who sell their soul to globalist debt sharks and end up paying a heavier price than anyone could imagine.

Source: prisonplanet.com

World Bank to map Africa’s natural resources

The World Bank plans to launch in July a $1 billion plan to map Africa‘s natural resources with the aim of delineating more clearly the continent’s uncovered mineral wealth.

The project, dubbed the Billion Trillion Dollar Map, “will unlock the true worth of Africa’s mineral endowment,” Tom Butler, mining specialist at the Bank’s private finance arm, the International Finance Corp, said yesterday.

Speaking in Cape Town, South Africa, Butler said most of Africa’s subsoil resources have not been surveyed.

Doing so, in a public way, would be useful to policy makers, investors and the public, helping to boost development, he said, according to prepared remarks.

“There is yet an enormous amount of wealth left to discover,” he said.

“Coupled with in-country training and institutional support, and the work of exploration companies, this initiative will unlock the true worth of Africa’s mineral endowment.”

The World Bank , which calls accessible data on resources a “public good”, said it has already invested over $200 million in developing geological data for Africa over the past 10 years.

Currently, it is supporting a comprehensive airborne geological survey of the entire country of Malawi.

The World Bank will be using satellites and airborne surveys to fill geological gaps across the continent where a lack of adequate data hampers mining investments.

Mining companies and governments from sub-Saharan Africa who have expressed interest, a senior bank official told Reuters on Wednesday.

“Times are tough, so the mining companies are counting their pennies, but there is a lot of interest because it is exactly when commodity prices are low and the companies are reducing their investment budgets that having the information to guide their priorities is valuable,” said Paulo de Sa, senior manager at the World Bank’s mining unit.

De Sa met with 10 mining companies on the sidelines of an African mining conference, including Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines, who were interested in the fund.
Initially targeting southern and eastern Africa, De Sa said the fund would aim to collate existing data onto a single, digital platform that would be accessible to the public.

Besides helping to guide exploration investment, African governments could benefit by being able to negotiate better deals when handing concessions to mining companies, he said.
“If they know what they have in their territory, they are in a better position to fine-tune and calibrate the fiscal regime and mining laws,” De Sa said.

When Mozambique, for example, privatised its giant Moatize coal mine, it did not know the true potential of the coal basin until Brazilian miner Vale started exploration work.

De Sa said the bank, which has received expressions of interest from Malawi and Mozambique to assist with geological mapping, hoped to identify copper prospectivity in Zambia, Africa’s top producer of the metal.

“There is a lot more copper in Zambia than what is known, so we hope to identify the areas with more prospectivity and then the government will be able to attract more investment to areas because they know there will be a lot more certainty, a lot less risk,” he said.

The data could also be used by governments when planning infrastructure development or water resource allocations.

De Sa said the mapping fund hoped to unearth up to $1 trillion worth of new mineral resources on the continent.

Source: Business Standard

World Bank gives SA little chance

s-africn-kids — An education awaits as teacher gropes white doll

Inequalities in South Africa are threatening economic growth, with children born into poor families unlikely ever to escape poverty or reap the rewards of living in Africa’s largest economy.

The World Bank’s sobering assessment released last week found that a child’s gender and ethnicity at birth, combined with a lack of education, largely determine that person’s chances of success in life – even 18 years after the end of apartheid.

“South Africa, the continent’s largest economy by far and its only G-20 member, displays strikingly high and persistent inequality and marginalization for an upper middle-income country,” said the report.

Although South Africa has made great strides in transforming the economy, which has produced one of the continent’s fastest-growing black middle classes, poverty levels and unemployment remain high outside urban centres.

South Africa is often compared to Brazil, which also has a huge income gap, but while the Latin American country has narrowed the divide over the last decade, here the chasm is as deep as ever, the World Bank said.

The richest 10 per cent of South Africans account for 58 per cent of the nation’s income, while the bottom 10 per cent accounts for 0.5 per cent, the Bank said. The bottom half earns less than eight percent of the nation’s income.

The country will struggle to grow the economy until its riches are spread more evenly, the Bank said.

Sharp economic and social inequalities were especially visible along racial lines, said the report, with whites largely shielded from economic hardships thanks to privileges inherited from the fallen apartheid regime.

“Peering past the first-world living conditions of urban South Africa, it is not too hard to see the downcast situation of townships, informal settlements, and former homelands,” said Sandeep Mahajan, who headed the report.

“Our results show that a South African child not only has to work harder to overcome the disadvantages at birth due to circumstances, but having done so, finds that these reemerge when seeking employment as an adult,” he said.

The report said residents of these areas were usually unemployed or lacked the means to look for jobs, as they were disconnected from the job market.

Unemployment in the first quarter of 2012 rose to 25.2 per cent, up from 23.9 per cent in the previous quarter, and black people form the bulk of the jobless.

Modest economic growth, which averaged 3.2 per cent since 1995, had proved “insufficient to absorb the wave of new entrants to the labour market from dismantling apartheid’s barriers”, the report said.

Labour analyst Andrew Levy said challenges of inequality were “deep rooted and not unique to South Africa”.

“History has shown that societies that have emerged from any kind of unjust system of governance struggle with inequality,” said Levy. But he added that the new government “could have done better”.

Much of the blame is laid on the education system.

The World Bank found that black children from rural areas with parents who did not finish school were most likely not to finish school or have access to health care.

Children in some parts of the country are forced to learn in open spaces or under trees, even though education is the government’s single biggest expenditure.

This year education campaigners took the government to court after schools across the poor northern province of Limpopo were left without textbooks, months into the academic year. More than one month after a court order, government has not delivered books to all the schools.

“The only way to reverse the trend of inequality is to invest in education,” said economist Azar Jammine. – AFP

Despite radical affirmative action, racial income gap remains in South Africa

Inequalities in South Africa are threatening economic growth, with children born into poor families unlikely ever to escape poverty or reap the rewards of living in Africa’s largest economy.

The richest 10 percent of South Africans account for 58 percent of the nation’s income, while the bottom 10 percent accounts for 0.5 percent, the Bank said. The bottom half earns less than eight percent of the nation’s income.

The country will struggle to grow the economy until its riches are spread more evenly, the Bank said.

The report said residents of these areas were usually unemployed or lacked the means to look for jobs, as they were disconnected from the job market.

Unemployment in the first quarter of 2012 rose to 25.2 percent, up from 23.9 percent in the previous quarter, and black people form the bulk of the jobless.

Modest economic growth, which averaged 3.2 percent since 1995, had proved “insufficient to absorb the wave of new entrants to the labour market from dismantling apartheid’s barriers”, the report said.

Labour analyst Andrew Levy said challenges of inequality were “deep rooted and not unique to South Africa”.

Much of the blame is laid on the education system.

The World Bank found that black children from rural areas with parents who did not finish school were most likely not to finish school or have access to health care.

Children in some parts of the country are forced to learn in open spaces or under trees, even though education is the government’s single biggest expenditure.

“The only way to reverse the trend of inequality is to invest in education,” said economist Azar Jammine. – Sapa

Also read Education under white rule was better – black South African activist-academic