Page 9 - World Bank

Janet Yellen likely to reiterate warnings over China's manufacturing power

With its dominant voice in all of those forums, the US is expected to try to align other countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America to voice concerns over China's output and exports

IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva wins second term ahead of Spring meetings

Georgieva, 70, led IMF's efforts to aid indebted countries through pandemic and has warned about the global economic impact of trade fragmentation caused by worsening US-China relations

IMF under pressure to cut billions of dollars in fees for large borrowers

The IMF released a statement last week saying that "a number" of its board members were open to reviewing policies around surcharges, the fees that it charges nations that borrow more

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

World Bank set to issue up to $1 billion in debut hybrid note this year

The G20 group of major economies has urged multilateral lenders to explore hybrid financing structures in a push to try

World Bank lifts India's economic growth forecast for FY25 to 6.6%

Cautions that South Asia Risks "Squandering" Its Demographic Dividend

World Bank to share more data to attract investors to developing countries

Economic growth has slowed in developing countries, with growth falling to barely 4% from 6% in two decades, Banga said

Grasim Industries secures Rs 1,250 cr from International Finance Corp

The investment by IFC, World Bank's private sector arm, will be in the form of a subscription to non-convertible debentures (NCD) issued by Grasim

Do we need a new line to assess poverty based on CES for 2022-23?

At the $3.2 per capita per day poverty line, which the World Bank uses for lower-middle-income countries such as India, poverty rate declined from 53.6% during 2011-12 to 20.8% during 2022-23

Closing gender gap could lift global GDP more than 20%, says World Bank

The report said obstacles that women face in entering the global workforce included barriers to starting businesses, persistent pay gaps and bans on working at night or in jobs deemed 'dangerous'

Poverty rate in India between 4.5-5% in 2022-23; rural poverty at 7.2%: SBI

Meanwhile, urban poverty declined to 4.6 per cent from 13.7 per cent during the same period

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 ...

World Bank, others issue offshore rupee bonds worth $1.4 bn as demand soars

These offshore bonds, with maturities ranging from 4 years to 10 years, are denominated in Indian rupees but settled in U.S. dollars, the sources said

FM asks World Bank officials to lead G20 agenda of strengthening MDBs

FM also suggested the World Bank explore the possibility of implementing Infrastructure Investment Trusts in infrastructure sectors such as roadways

Ukraine needs $486 bn to rebuild after nearly 2 years of war: World Bank

Disruptions to economic output and trade, as well as other war-related costs, such as removing debris, would likely add another $499 billion, it said

World Bank Chief Banga says lender 'wasting time' with too many rules

In addition to focusing the bank more on climate change and its consequences since taking over in June, Banga has often flagged what he sees as slowness and inefficiencies of the institution

Sense of urgency required to tackle climate crises, poverty: WB chief Banga

World Bank chief Ajay Banga on Thursday said a sense of urgency can be the only saviour for the world faced with a set of intertwined crises, including that of climate and poverty. "What we have is an existential climate crisis," the World Bank President said here during a session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. "We cannot think about eradicating poverty without caring about climate. We cannot think about eradicating poverty without caring about healthcare. We cannot think about eradicating poverty without caring about food insecurity and fragility," he said. This is the reality and "we have a set of intertwined crises," Banga said and stressed that a "sense of urgency is our only saviour". According to him, 45 per cent of the World Bank financing will go towards climate efforts. In addition, the Bank has promised to connect 100 million people in Africa to renewable power by 2030, address a misalignment in funding to reduce methane emissions, help small nations absorb

Private capital expenditure to pick up in coming years: MPC member Varma

RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Jayanth R Varma has said that capacity utilization has been slowly increasing and private capital expenditure would pick up in the coming years. Varma further noted that in the last couple of years, the government has shouldered the burden of investment, while private capital expenditure has been muted. "At the same time, capacity utilization has been slowly creeping up and it is approaching levels that prompt the private sector to undertake capital expenditure at least in some sectors," he told PTI. Moreover, Varma, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad said large public sector infrastructure investment of the recent years has the potential to crowd-in private sector investments. "On the whole, I am hopeful that private capital expenditure would pick-up in the coming years, and pick-up the baton from the public sector," he said. Asked whether India can escape the middle income trap, Varma said it is imperative that

Investing for growth

Private-sector investment revival is crucial

Global economy will slow for a third straight year in 2024: World Bank

Hobbled by high interest rates, persistent inflation, slumping trade and a diminished China, the global economy will slow for a third consecutive year in 2024. That is the picture sketched by the World Bank, which forecast Tuesday that the world economy will expand just 2.4 per cent this year. That would be down from 2.6 per cent growth in 2023, 3 per cent in 2022 and a galloping 6.2 per cent in 2021, which reflected the robust recovery from the pandemic recession of 2020. Heightened global tensions, arising particularly from Israel's war with Hamas and the conflict in Ukraine, pose the risk of even weaker growth. And World Bank officials express worry that deeply indebted poor countries cannot afford to make necessary investments to fight climate change and poverty. Near-term growth will remain weak, leaving many developing countries especially the poorest stuck in a trap: with paralyzing levels of debt and tenuous access to food for nearly one out of every three people," Indermi