40/YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!
with the prescriptions of the IMF and World Bank (Coutrot and
Husson, 1993;Ugarteche, 1997).
Hong Kong and Singapore are special cases. These two cities are
financial centres above all. Hong Kong has been returned to China,
its economic future is closely intertwined with the mainland's.
According to the World Bank, in 1990 South Korea, Taiwan, Hong
Kong and Singapore accounted for 61 per cent of Third World manu
facturing exports.
There are other Third World countries that seemed to be making
something of a leap forward, such as Mexico, Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia and the Philippines. The IMF and World Bank pointed to
these countries as examples - that is, until they were sent reeling by
a major crisis, in 1994 in the case of Mexico and in 1997-98 for the
others. These countries are in a very vulnerable position, due to a
combination of high external debt, a structural trade deficit and the
volatility of financial inflows and outflows since the beginning of the
1990s.
Increased Subordination of the Majority of Third World
Countries to the Imperialist CentreAny simplistic reading of the current situation should, of course, be
avoided. The Third World has not been totally brushed aside by the
Triad. A number of Third World countries have built up a relatively
solid industrial base which is not about to disappear at the wave of a
magic wand. It is none the less striking to observe the unprecedented
degree of freedom to manoeuvre that multinationals from the
developed capitalist countries have obtained - thanks to privatisation
and other neo-liberal measures in the countries in question. What's
more, the external debt crisis in these countries has created a
situation in which the multilateral financial institutions (IMF and
World Bank) and the governments of the main industrial powers
have been able to dictate a series of measures in the form of structural
adjustment programmes (SAPs) (see Chapter 11). Strategic economic
sectors key to the development of these countries have been handed
over to the multinationals. The result has been a kind of regression,
a return to pronounced dependence and subordination in a number
of Third World countries that had attempted - not without success -
an incipient autonomy in economic development. This applies to
Mexico, India, Algeria, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. Countries