Remarks at High-Level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond
David Malpass, World Bank Group President, spoke at the United Nations high-level event on financing for development in the era of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Beyond. He spoke about two institutions, the IMF and World Bank working closely together o...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/586781600081189065/Remarks-by-World-Bank-Group-President-David-Malpass-at-High-Level-Event-on-Financing-for-Development-in-the-Era-of-COVID-19-and-Beyond http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34490 |
| Summary: | David Malpass, World Bank Group President, spoke at the United
Nations high-level event on financing for development
in the era of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Beyond. He spoke
about two institutions, the IMF and World Bank working
closely together on financial and economic challenges,
including and especially those affecting the world’s poor.
He highlighted on the announcement of milestone by IMF and
World Bank Group that emergency health operations approved
and up and running in over hundred developing countries. He
described the new support programs that, in following weeks,
will help developing countries overcome the pandemic and
reclaim focus on growth and sustainable development. He
invited the participants of the UN event to join the efforts
with additional financing. He strongly welcomed the prompt
support of the G20 countries for a suspension of debt
service by all official bilateral creditors, which included
G20 endorsement for comparable treatment by commercial
creditors. He said that the World Bank Group is supporting
countries that are participating in the moratorium. He
welcomed President Xi Jinping’s recent commitment to China’s
full participation in the debt moratorium. He invited
commercial creditors to agree on terms of reference to
encourage their participation, especially given the focus of
the initiative on debt relief for the IDA countries, the
world’s poorest. He mentioned that the UN’s call for
Multilateral Development Bank debt suspension would be
harmful to the world’s poorest countries. He spoke about the
recent mischaracterizations by parts of the UN regarding the
World Bank Group’s involvement as an observer to Egypt,
Ethiopia, and Sudan’s negotiations regarding the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. He concluded by saying that the
World Bank Group now has available COVID-19 financing
programs in over one hundred developing countries, and
invited use of those pathways to expand the financing of the
health emergency and expand the response so that we can meet
the full brunt of the crisis in the world’s poorest countries. |
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