Page 4 - World Bank Group

World Bank allocates $16 mn to support women-led businesses in Afghanistan

The World Bank added that the bank is striving to increase access to financial resources in Afghanistan for small and medium-sized enterprises

Rakesh Mohan appointed a member of World Bank economic advisory panel

Currently, Mohan is serving as president emeritus and distinguished fellow at CSEP and is also part-time member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council

Enhance biz environment, boost non-farm jobs via trade openness: World Bank

Labour productivity and the working-age population, the twin engines of growth in the South Asian region, are slowing

About 10 mn people at risk of slipping into poverty in Pakistan: World Bank

The World Bank has painted a grim economic picture of Pakistan in its biannual report, cautioning that over 10 million more people are at risk of descending into poverty in the cash-strapped country. The Washington-based lender's apprehension comes from a sluggish economic growth rate of 1.8 per cent coupled with soaring inflation, a staggering 26 per cent in the current fiscal year. The World Bank's biannual Pakistan Development Outlook report indicated that the country is set to miss almost all major macroeconomic targets. The international lender said the country is anticipated to fall short of its primary budget target, remaining in deficit for three consecutive years, contrary to the International Monetary Fund's stipulations mandating a surplus. Sayed Murtaza Muzaffari, lead author of the report, said despite a board-based yet nascent economic recovery, poverty alleviation efforts remain insufficient. The economic growth is projected to stagnate at a paltry 1.8 per cent whil

Jobs creation in South Asia lags population growth, says World Bank chief

"If only they can be employed. It's a fantastic opportunity to grow but until recently employment ratios have been falling," says Franziska Ohnsorge

Centre makes India's case to World Bank for Logistics Index ranking push

World Bank incorporating more data to make LPI comprehensive

World Bank wants to focus on women empowerment, equal opportunity: Official

World Bank is focusing on housing solutions for women to address women empowerment and provide them equal opportunity, a senior official has said. If India increases its female labour force participation to 50 per cent, it would help boost GDP growth by 1 per cent which is huge for a country like India, World Bank Managing Director (Operations) Anna Bjerde said. The official was in the city recently to visit World Bank-supported projects. She visited the working women's hostel - 'Thozhi' - which has been jointly developed by the Government of Tamil Nadu, World Bank and the private sector and is located at suburban Tambaram. TN Chief Minister M K Stalin had inaugurated the hostel in January. "I think the ultimate achievement while we are focusing on a housing solution for women is because we want to address women empowerment and an equal opportunity for women. What we see by solutions like these is that some of them undertake studies or some take up interesting jobs in IT or ...

World Bank needs to restructure itself, attract private capital: N K Singh

The World Bank needs to reinvent and restructure itself so as to become 'better, bolder and bigger' and harness private capital on the strength of its own balance sheet, said N K Singh, Co-Convenor, Expert Group on MDB Reforms. The World Bank should also look at the possibility of tapping pension funds to increase its capital base and its capacity to fund development projects in developing nations. "Bretton Woods was the first one, it certainly needs to be reinvented, restructured and recreated. But there is no substitute for multilateral cooperation. and that's why better, bolder and bigger," Singh said at a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue, 2024. A high-level expert group, led by N K Singh and former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, was set up by the G20 under India's presidency. In its report, the group had proposed a 30-point roadmap to reform Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and triple their lending by 2030, which includes attracting private investors and ...

Govt, MDB coffers don't have trillions of dollars: World Bank chief Banga

World Bank President Ajay Banga on Tuesday batted for removing barriers to private sector investment, saying it is key to tackling challenges before the global economy as neither the governments nor multilateral banks have trillions of dollars in their coffers. Speaking to World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab in a podcast ahead of the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos next week, Banga said the immediate challenges before the world are conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine as also the debt situation in several emerging markets. In the longer term, the major challenges remain poverty and inequality as also those related to the environment, the former Mastercard chief said. Banga, also a member of the World Economic Forum's Board of Trustees, will be among the key global leaders at the five-day WEF Davos summit beginning January 15. Asked what could be the solutions to the problems of inequality and poverty, Banga said, "the best way to solve, aside from creating better

World Bank keeps India's FY25 GDP growth estimate unchanged at 6.4%

In its biannual 'Global Economic Prospects' report, the World Bank said India is anticipated to maintain the fastest growth rate among the world's largest economies

Pakistan's current economic model not working, says World Bank official

Pakistan's current economic model is not working, a top World Bank official has said, underlining that the cash-strapped nation must change policies that have plagued development and benefitted only a few. The remarks by World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine came in a Policy Vision article, published in the latest UNDP publication. Pakistan's current economic model is not working since it has fallen behind its peers, significant progress in poverty reduction has now started to reverse, and the benefits of growth have accrued to a narrow elite, Benhassine said. There is a broad consensus that action is needed to change policies that have plagued development, benefitted only a few, and led to very volatile and low growth, the Dawn newspaper quoted Benhassine as saying. Pakistan is heavily exposed to climate change, with the potentially devastating impacts of climate shocks and natural disasters already apparent, he said in Development Advocate Pakistan, the UNDP's quarterly ...

World Bank chief Banga, FM Sitharaman discuss engagement of MDBs in India

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met World Bank Group President Ajay Banga and discussed engagement of multilateral banks in various sectors in India. Sitharaman also discussed outcomes of G20 India Presidency and strengthening of the World Bank besides issues of mutual interest. "The Union Finance Minister stated that @WorldBank should take the lead in advancing recommendations contained in the Volume-I #TripleAgenda and the recommendations that #MDBs must be bigger, better and bolder as contained in the Volume-II, of the reports of the G20 Independent Experts Group #IEG, prepared under the #G20India Presidency, and added that other #MDBs look up to @WorldBank for such #reform initiatives," the finance ministry said in post on X. Independent Expert Group (IEG), appointed under India G20 Presidency, has recommended a triple agenda to harness the potential of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). The report suggested adopting a triple mandate of eliminating extreme

World Bank releases second tranche of $250 mn to cash-strapped Sri Lanka

Citing continued satisfactory progress in Sri Lanka's reform programme, the World Bank on Wednesday announced the release of the second tranche of USD 250 million to the cash-strapped country which will help stabilise the economy. The World Bank had pledged USD 500 million in budgetary support and released its first tranche in June to cash-strapped Sri Lanka, which has a total foreign debt of USD 46.9 billion. Through the facility known as the Resilience, Stability and Economic Turnaround (RESET) Development Policy Operation (DPO), the World Bank release was made considering the continued satisfactory progress made by the government with the reform programme. The RESET DPO, which provides budget support to the government, was originally approved in June this year, it added. Sri Lanka was hit by its worst economic crisis in history in 2022 when its foreign exchange reserves fell to a critical low and the public came out on the streets to protest the shortage of fuel, fertilisers and

India abstained from Pakistan's loan request to IMF: Finance ministry

The arrangement provides short-term financial assistance to countries facing balance of payments problems

For sustainable growth of nations, WB's Gill calls for data-driven policies

Middle-income countries like India need to make policies based on reliable data to get into the league of high-income nations in next 3-4 decades as achieving sustainable growth will become harder, World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill said on Thursday. Addressing an event here, Gill said, to grow into higher-income countries, MCIs (Middle Income Countries) will have to reduce deficits in their mid-sized firms. "(Going forward) economic growth will get harder for middle-income countries like India, not easier... If you (middle-income countries like India) want to get into high-income country in the next 3-4 decades then you will have to make policies based on reliable information," he said. Gill pointed out that relatively few countries (31) have grown into high-income countries between 1990 and 2021. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an ambitious target of making India a developed nation by 2047. According to the World Bank, the world's middle-income countries (MICs) are a

Need to be realistic about pvt cap mobilisation: FM to World Bank

On the issue of domestic resource mobilisation, the finance minister suggested adopting a holistic approach to raising fiscal resources, which is not limited to taxation

FM to attend World Bank-IMF meet, G20 FMBCBG in Morocco from Oct 11

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will embark on a six-day official visit on Tuesday to Marrakech, Morocco, to attend the World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meet, along with the G20 FMCBG meeting. Besides, bilateral meetings with Indonesia, Morocco, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany and France are scheduled to take place on October 11-15, 2023, in Marrakech. The Indian delegation for the annual meetings will be led by the Finance Minister, and comprise officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India, an official statement said on Monday. During the visit, it said, Sitharaman and RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will co-chair the fourth G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting. The G20 FMCBG meeting under India's presidency will witness the participation of 65 delegations from G20 countries, invitee countries, and international organisations in multilateral discussions centred around a broad spectrum of important global issues, it ...

MDBs need to be bigger and better, but donor money is constrained: ADB's Um

Woochong Um in a virtual interview said that they need to double, triple and quadruple what they can do and bring in private capital

Emerging economies face China and rate pressures as IMF, World Bank meet

Restructuring efforts for defaulted countries could reach a breakthrough before year-end as talks continue, while the finances of nations like Pakistan and Egypt will also be under scrutiny

Election-year budgets

Govt must adhere to the consolidation path