Robust growth should have large impact on the poor: World Bank

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said that everyone should strive to make a world where nobody is left behind

Emphasising that policies need to be "people centric", top officials of global agencies today said that robust growth should have a large impact on the poor and help in eradicating poverty.

Participating in a session on 'Tackling Climate, Development and Growth' at the WEF annual meet, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stressed that everyone should strive to make a world where "nobody is left behind".

"All policies must be people centric. We should make a world where nobody is left behind. Must utilise women and youth to their full potential," he said.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said that robust growth should have large impact on the poor, in order to eradicate poverty.

"We have to change poverty elasticity of growth... Most importantly the relationship between growth and poverty needs to be changed. That would have a bigger impact," he said.

According to the UN chief, there should be partnership between government and business leaders, who in turn can use vast supply chain networks. The civil society should come together, he added.

Noting that sustainable development and climate change are not two different things, he said these are two sides of the same coin.

"Legally speaking people approach them with different tracks. But basically they are one and the same thing," he said.

National development and climate change should go together while investments in climate change would have significant impact in generating jobs and development, Ki-Moon added.

Meanwhile, the World Bank chief said that with falling crude oil prices, now is the time for developing countries "to get away with the fuel subsidies".

According to Kim, there should be a framework for financing the development goals. "These will cost money but we have to do much more than that," he added.

Agencies have to make their priorities and investments should be made in health, education and information and communication technology areas, among others.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, who was among the audience, said that in a world where growth is low and fiscal position is limited, a lot of imagination needs to be used.