Washington: India on September 29 articulated developing countries' demand for increasing development assistance to realise the millennium goal of health for all and poverty reduction, asserting that there should be an increase in the resources of the World Bank.

Private capital is no substitute for Official Development Assistance (ODA), which the rich nations promised at 0.7 per cent of their gross national product but which is now at 0.22 per cent, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh told the joint annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

While urging for increased resources for the World Bank, Singh pointed out that the past decade has been characterized by low growth rates and considerable economic difficulties in most regions of the developing world.

Except for Asia, per capita incomes have either declined or remained stationary, and the poverty situation has worsened considerably, he said. After the declining growth rates in global output witnessed over the past year, the outlook remains uncertain, Singh added.

Stating that an excessive volatility of global oil prices threatens to undermine the tentative recovery underway, the Finance Minister said non-oil commodity prices are now expected to decline in the next decade.

He also noted with satisfaction the progress in the HIPC (highly indebted poor countries) initiative, to write off most of their debt. However, he said, the pace of implementation of the initiative has been relatively modest.

Some HIPCs have experienced delays in reaching decision, particularly those going through a post-conflict phase, Singh said.

PTI