  Making Globalization Work for the Poor  By Masood Ahmed Deputy
Director Policy Development and Review Department, IMF  The
Independent, London December 12, 2000  Reproduced with
permission of The Independent (original version)  The word
"globalization" stirs powerful emotions. Some see it as highly
beneficial—a key to more opportunities and higher living
standards across the world. Others see it as a malign force that
increases inequality within and between nations, disempowers the
weak, threatens employment and living standards, and increases
poverty.  Most people agree that the forces driving
globalization—technological change, lower communication and
transport costs, increased trade and financial integration among
countries—are powerful. But they need to be harnessed to make
globalization work for the good of all, particularly the poor
and marginalized.  Today's central development challenge is to
improve the lives and prospects for the nearly three billion
people now living in poverty. Over 1.2 billion