WASHINGTON D.C, Oct 07: Heads of the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Friday urged the world's finance leaders to take urgent steps towards inclusive growth for ending extreme poverty.
"… act with that (of Dr. Martin Luther King's) same fierce urgency towards our goal -- the end of extreme poverty," World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim told the plenary session of the WB and IMF annual meetings here.
"We need growth -- but we need inclusive growth. We need to transition to the digital age -- but a transition that benefits everyone. And we need to accelerate now," said IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde.
US President Barak Obama inaugurated the session through a video message, calling upon the global finance leaders to accelerate cooperation for reducing poverty and inequality.
The finance ministers, central bank governors, and senior finance officials from across the world are attending the annual events.
Bangladesh Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed and Alternate Executive Director of Bangladesh to the World Bank Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan were present at the session.
Mr Kim spoke about three approaches to be taken to achieve the goals of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity -- accelerating inclusive and sustainable economic growth, investing more and more effectively in people, and fostering resilience to multiple global shocks and threats.
"We have an enormous opportunity. But we need you to take action and we need you to push us," he told the delegation members.
He pointed out the private sector complains about unpredictability of the government policies and actions, corruption, and tax regulations that continue to present as the largest obstacles for investment.
He expressed the interest to continue working in making real progress as the governments tackle corruption, build stronger institutions, and reform tax structures that would remove the constraints, foster better service delivery and promote better governance.
The World Bank president also touched upon various global risks and shocks, including climate change, Ebola, and Zika those have exposed lethal weaknesses in the ability to respond to pandemics.
Ms Lagarde said that advanced economies remain stuck in a low-growth, low-investment, low-inflation cycle. And while growth in emerging markets is picking up, low-income commodity exporters are struggling with low prices.
The IMF projected a global growth at 3.1 per cent this year, with only a modest acceleration to 3.4 per cent next year.
"Putting it simply: growth has been too low, for too long, and benefiting too few," she said.
For inclusive growth, she prioritised escaping the "new mediocre" of low growth, low employment, and low wages. "That means using all policy tools -- monetary, fiscal, and structural: to maximise the synergies within countries -- and amplify the impact through coordination across countries."
She said: "Achieving greater inclusion is actually a tall order. It requires more than macroeconomics. It also involves politics. And social contracts-which must reflect national, regional, and cultural diversity."
To foster inclusive growth, she emphasised on increasing equality of opportunity, promoting fair burden sharing and, preserving competition and market access.
syful-islam@outlook.com
WB, IMF urge global finance leaders for steps towards ending extreme poverty
From Our Special Correspondent | Published: October 09, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: October 08, 2016 21:23:04
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