Comprehension Passages

China’s rising power is based on its remarkable economic success. Shanghai’s overall economy is currently growing at around 13% per year, thus doubling in size every five or six years. Everywhere there are start-ups, innovations, and young entrepreneurs hungry for profits. In a series of high level meetings between chinese and African officials, the advice that the African leaders
received from the Chinese was sound, and more practical than they typically get from the World Bank. Chinese officials stress the crucial role of public investments, especially in agriculture and infrastructure, to lay the basis for private sector-led growth. In a hungry and poor rural economy, as China was in the 1970s and as most of Africa is today, a key starting point is to raise farm
productivity. Farmers need the benefits of fertilizer, irrigation and high-yield seeds, all of which were a core part of China’s economical take off. Two other equally critical investments are also needed : roads and electricity, without which there cannot be a modern economy. Farmers might be able to increase their output, but it won’t be able to reach the cities, and the cities won’t be able to provide the countryside with inputs. The government has taken pains to ensure that the electricity grids and transportation networks reach every village in China. China is prepared to help Africa in substantial ways in agriculture, roads, power, health and education. And that is not an empty boast. Chinese leaders are prepared to share new high yield rice varieties, with their African counterparts and, all over Africa, China is financing and constructing basic infrastructure.
This illustrates what is wrong with the World Bank. The World Bank has often forgotten the most basic lessons of development, preferring to lecture the poor and force them to privatise basic infrastructure, which is untenable, rather than to help the poor to invest in infrastructure and other crucial sectors. The Banks’s failure began in the early 1980s when under the ideological sway of them American President and British Prime Minister it tried to get Africa and other poor regions to cut back or close down government investments and services. For 25 years, the bank tries to get governments out of agriculture, leaving impoverished peasants to fend for themselves. The result has been a disaster in Africa, with farm productivity stagnant for decades. The bank also pushed for privatization of national health systems, water utilities, and road and power networks, and has grossly underfinanced these critical sectors. This extreme free-market ideology, also called “structural adjustment”, went against the
practical lessons of development successes in China and the rest or Asia. Practical development strategy recognises that public investments - in agriculture, health, education, and infrastructure- are necessary complements to private investments. The World Bank has instead wrongly seen such vital public investments as an enemy of private sector development. Whenever the banks’
ideology failed, it has blamed the poor for corruption, mismanagement, or lack of initiative. Instead of focusing its attention on helping the poorest countries to improve their infrastructure, there has been a crusade against corruption. The good news is that African governments are getting the massage on how to spur economic growth and are getting crucial help from China and other
partners that are less wedded to extreme free-market ideology than the world Bank. They have declared their intention to invest in infrastructure, agriculture modernistation, public health, and education. It is clear the Bank can regain its relevance only if it becomes practical once again, by returning its focus to financing public investments in priority sectors. If that happens, the Bank can still do justice to the bold vision of a world of shared prosperity that prompted its creation after World War II.

  • 1. The author�s main objective in writing the passage is to

    1. illustrate how China can play a more concrete role in Africa.
    2. Use China�s Success as an example of the changes required in World ideology.
    3. Recommend that China adopt the guidelines of the World Bank to sustain growth.
    4. make a case for the closure of the World Bank since it promotes US interests over those of other countries.
    Answer :

    Option B

  • 2. What effect has the World Bank policy had on African nations?

    1. The African government has restricted private sector investment in agriculture.
    2. Africa has focused more on health and education rather than on agriculture.
    3. US and Britain have volunteered substantial aid to Africa as Africa has complied with World Bank ideology.
    4. The agriculture sector in these countries is not as productive as it could be.
    Answer :

    Option D

  • 3. Which of the following cannot be said about structural adjustment?

    1. It is the World Bank�s free market ideology adapted by Asian countries.
    2. Under this strategy public sector investment in priority sectors is discouraged.
    3. As a development strategy it has failed in Africa.
    4. With this strategy there has been a lack of adequate investment in critical sectors.
    Answer :

    Option A

  • 4. Why is the author optimistic about Africa�s future?

    1. Africa has decided to adopt a structural adjustment ideology which has benefited many nations.
    2. China has urged the World Bank to waive the interest on its loans to Africa.
    3. Africa has committed itself to adopting China�s strategy for economic growth.
    4. The World Bank has committed itself to invest huge sums in Africa�s development.
    Answer :

    Option C

  • 5. What advice has the author given the World Bank?

    1. Adopt a more practical ideology of structural adjustment.
    2. Change its ideology to one encouraging both public and private sector investment in basic infrastructure.
    3. Reduce the influence of the US and Britain in its functioning.
    4. Support China�s involvement in developing Africa.
    Answer :

    Option B

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