18 Quotes by Max Lawson

On aid, things look really bad, the Americans seem completely unconvinced about the need to increase aid.

Rich country leaders stood up and said they wanted to put children in school and save people from preventable diseases. What is the World Bank going to do to systematically embarrass donor governments that do not improve the quality of their aid in coming years?

Unless we keep the scrutiny up, there's nothing to suggest this case will be any different.

It appears that he is committed to health and education, which are nearly all of the millennium development goals. We'll be watching him very closely over the next few months to see whether he follows up on that.

We are really depressed. We are left clawing our way back to commitments made three years ago. When we start defining success as simply standing still, that's a terrible situation to be in.

We are really concerned that we're a long, long way away from any kind of breakthrough on tackling poverty in Africa.

We're keeping up the pressure on the Bank, Fund and rich country donors. The story of 2005 was promises from rich countries to increase their aid. The story of 2006 is whether these promises will result in real money to fight poverty and not aid increases based on clever accounting, politics and naked self interest.

The deal that has been sealed by the Fund this weekend will provide urgently needed money for education and health care,

The stage is now set for the World Bank shareholders to fulfill their part of the bargain tomorrow.