The World Bank Group said it has been acting fast in its interventions to resolve the numerous global economic crises that the world faces, beginning with the COVID-19 surge financing over the last two years, which was one of the fastest and largest in its history.
The Bank added that it is now putting money into Ukraine and has moved quickly both in terms of commitments and disbursements, including nearly $1.5 billion dollars that were announced in Poland last week
The measure, the Bank affirmed is part of a surge in its financing, that it expects to ramp up over the next 15 months, which should reach $170 billion dollars, and would be the largest set of commitments by the World Bank Group ever.
This was disclosed in the transcript of the Spring Meetings Press Conference by the World Bank Group President, David Malpass, on Wednesday.
In the opening remarks, Malpass said: “The World Bank Group has been acting fast in the face of the crises: first the COVID-19 surge financing in over the last two years, which was one of the fastest and largest in our history. And we are now putting money into Ukraine and have moved quickly both to commitments and disbursements, including nearly $1.5 billion dollars that I announced in Poland last week.
“That is part of a surge in World Bank Group financing, that we expect to carry out over the next 15 months, which should reach $170 billion dollars. It would be the largest set of commitments by the World Bank Group ever.
“We’re also working on other key issues facing developing countries. Vaccines are important, and we’re continuing to push forward. We will have committed $11 billion dollars to vaccination programs in 81 countries by the end of June.
“We are working on debt transparency and debt sustainability solutions for developing countries, which affects both low- and middle-income countries.”
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The World Bank President said work is actively ongoing on climate, through the Climate Change Action Plan and the formation of Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs), which will identify the high priority items country by country, in their efforts to mitigate and to adapt to climate change.
He noted that the world is facing COVID-19, inflation, and the war in Ukraine, which have led to the forecast of the global economic growth outlooks being lowered, just as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also downgraded its outlook, and stressed that “China’s COVID-related shutdown is part of that and may weigh on the world economy in 2022.”
Above all, Malpass said the war and its consequences are putting stress on poor people around the world and adding to the debt burden, “an overburden in many countries, and also the fragility of the world environment.”
He explained that one of the key transmission mechanisms of the problems is the shortages of food, energy and fertilizer. “Fertilisers and energy are critical for the crop cycle so they’re building on each other and creating a food insecurity crisis that will last at least months and probably into next year,” he pointed out.
According to the World Bank President, “Food prices are up already 37 per cent year-over-year. There’s been a shift in relative prices with food up more than CPI (Consumer Price Index). That’s significant because it measures how much it hits the poor, who have to spend more on food in their daily budget. When you have food prices going up more than CPI, it puts on display the burden and inequality of the various global crises.”
Proffering solutions to the crises, Malpass said the world needs to take important steps to address the current set of crises, one of which is to allow more trade as “market-opening steps are very important”, as “markets are forward-looking.”
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