The World Bank's strategies on trade helped developing countries to open markets, but were not as effective as anticipated in boosting exports and growth and alleviating poverty, a report said Wednesday.

"The evaluation confirms that liberalizing trade alone is not enough to generate growth and fight poverty," said Vinod Thomas, director-general of the institution's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), citing a report.

"The World Bank has done the right thing in promoting more open trade worldwide, but not necessarily done everything right to help generate the desired payoffs," he said.

The IEG report assesses the bank's contribution to freer trade in poor countries and makes concrete recommendations on how to boost trade opportunities to better reduce poverty in the future.

Between 1987 and 2004, 38 billion U.S. dollars, or 8.1 percent of total World Bank's commitments, went to 117 countries to help them become better integrated into the global economy, according to the report.

The report recommends that the World Bank give greater attention to addressing poverty and distributional outcomes, and to cushioning shocks associated with trade policies.

The IEG is an independent body reporting directly to the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors to assess the effectiveness of the institution's development efforts.

This is the first ever comprehensive and independent assessment of Bank assistance on trade, according to IEG's senior manager Kyle Peters.

Source: Xinhua