World Needs ‘Global Financial Institutions That Are Better, Bigger, Bolder’, Says Secretary-General, in Remarks to International Development Association

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the third International Development Association (IDA) replenishment meeting, in Kathmandu today:

I am pleased to send my warmest greetings as you gather for this final day of the third IDA replenishment meeting in Kathmandu.  We are facing a development emergency.

The world’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and leaving no one behind is facing its most difficult test.

Many developing countries are gripped by conflict, instability, climate chaos and other crises.  Structural inequalities are at dangerous levels, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

Not all the challenges are new.  But, they are moving and melding at warp speed.  Unfortunately, the solutions are not.

We need global financial institutions that are better, bigger and bolder.  We need debt relief that provides real relief, based on a serious discussion between the Paris Club, China, private creditors and indebted nations.  And we need to find ways to multiply resources, namely, by fully utilizing the power and potential of the multilateral development banks.

IDA is the largest and most powerful instrument of financial assistance to the world’s poorest countries and those with complex vulnerabilities.  Providing essential health services.  Expanding access to clean water and electricity.  And so much more.

IDA has been crucial to improving people’s lives and helping countries move up the economic ladder.  But, sustaining that transformational impact is challenging.

Fully one third of IDA countries are poorer today than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.  Half are at risk of, or already in, debt distress.  That is why I urge donor countries to support IDA’s twenty-first replenishment by mobilizing a record amount.

Through stepped-up contributions, we can step up IDA’s game-changing work supporting Governments and civil society in the world’s poorest countries.

We can further demonstrate the powerful combination of the UN and World Bank working together in crisis settings and to prevent crises in the first place.  We can translate commitments into action and begin to close the SDG financing gap.  And we can take a step towards realizing the Bank’s new vision:  creating a world free of poverty on a liveable planet.  Thank you for doing your part to make it happen.