United Nations, Oct 31: The world spent USD 800 billion on defence last year compared with about USD 56 billion in development assistance, an economic imbalance which must be corrected if poverty is to be alleviated, the President of the World Bank has said. James Wolfensohn told a UN General Assembly meeting on trade, aid, debt and investment that poor migrant workers around the world sent USD 80 billion in remittances last year, "dwarfing the development assistance that is coming from the developed countries."

Wolfensohn and others at the conference yesterday said there was progress on both sides: developing countries were weeding out corruption and greed and rich countries were providing additional aid and were opening their markets for trade.

"I think there is progress, but I think there is very much to be done," he said. "We in our institution are concerned about the imbalance that exists in terms of the allocation of resources and the allocation of interest in the development process - an allocation which sees spending of USD 800 billion on defence and USD 56 billion on development assistance," Wolfensohn said. Bureau Report