[Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C. argues that the relationships between governments and investors - especially transnational corporations -are changing rapidly, and this is especially true in Latin America today. --Ed]
A New Assertiveness for Latin American Governments
By Mark Weisbrot - International Business Times
Friday, Jun 15, 2007
The relationships between governments and investors - especially
transnational corporations -are changing rapidly, and this is
especially true in Latin America today. Last month, Bolivia, Venezuela,
and Nicaragua surprised many international observers by announcing that
they would withdraw from the World Bank's international arbitration
body, the International Center for the Settlement of Investment
Disputes (ICSID). The ICSID is a place where - under prior arrangement
- foreign investors who have a dispute with a host government can
submit their case to binding arbitration.
Bolivia's position is that ICSID is not an impartial arbitrator, and cannot be expected to act as one, so long as it is part of the World Bank. As was highlighted by the recent controversy that led to the resignation of World Bank head Paul Wolfowitz, the Bank may have 185 member countries, but it is really dominated by Washington. The saga continues as the Bush Administration once again has chosen a close neo-conservative associate of President Bush - former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick - to run the institution. The World Bank has long used its power - not only from its own lending of $23 billion annually, but also as part of a "creditor's cartel" led by the International Monetary Fund - to pressure governments to adopt policies favored by transnational corporations. These include privatizations and removing restrictions on foreign ownership, trade, and investment flows.
The Bolivian government also argues that there are other conflicts of interest involved in having the World Bank's arbitration panel rule on disputes between governments and foreign investors. Pablo Solón, Bolivia's Special Ambassador for Trade and Integration, cited the case of Aguas de Illimani, a subsidiary of the French international water giant Suez. It turned out that the International Finance Corporation, a part of the World Bank Group, was a shareholder in Aguas de Illimani. It is clear that the same institution should not be both arbitrator and a party to the dispute.
The ICSID process, like other such international arbitration panels, does not have the transparency, checks and balances, or openness of a real judicial system - like ours in the U.S., for example. It is shrouded in secrecy. And the World Bank's influence in selecting arbitrators makes it anything but neutral.
Bolivia maintains that their government, which was elected with a majority that was tired of seeing the country's natural resources drained to make foreign companies rich while their country remained the poorest in South America, needs to change the rules so that they are at less of a disadvantage relative to giant corporations. They have a good case. Since the government raised its royalty rates on hydrocarbons - with the government's share of the biggest gas fields going from 18 to 82 percent - it has increased its revenue by nearly 7 percent of GDP. This is a huge increase in revenue.
The IMF wrote in their country papers on Bolivia that the country would be hurting itself by raising the royalty rates. They were wrong, as were most of the experts in Washington and the US business press. In these circles it is taken as given that anything which pleases foreign investors is good for the host country, as it will attract foreign investment. Likewise, anything that foreign investors don't like is generally portrayed as a potential disaster.
In recent years it has not worked out that way, especially in Latin America. At the end of 2001 Argentina engaged in the largest sovereign debt default in history, and most economists and journalists predicted they would suffer terrible consequences for many years to come. But in fact the economy declined for only three months, and then went on to average nearly Chinese levels of growth for the last five years: 8.6 percent annually. Venezuela raised the royalties on foreign investors in the Orinoco basin from 1 percent to 30 percent, and on May first claimed a majority stake in all joint ventures with foreign companies. The big oil companies - Chevron, Exxon Mobil, British Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, and others accepted these changes and are still there, making plenty of money.
In fact, what is happening now in Latin America and other developing countries is an attempt to correct for the extremism that characterized economic policy changes in the 1980s and 90s.
(click here to view entire article)
Comments