Publication: Opening Press Conference at the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, April 10, 2014
Loading...
Files in English
258 downloads
39 downloads
49 downloads
Published
2014-04-10
ISSN
Date
2016-05-24
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, notes that the developing countries will have to grow at a pace stronger than any time in the past 20 years to achieve the goal of ending the extreme poverty by 2030. He talks about the need for growth that is inclusive, creates jobs, and assists the poor directly. He calls for ensuring economic growth in the years ahead that is sustainable and takes us off the destructive path of climate change. He focuses on providing the best services possible in countries by keeping a strong presence in country offices and by providing global solutions to local problems. He is optimistic that countries and their partners will take it on, seize this opportunity and erase this stain of extreme poverty from our collective moral conscience once and for all. He fielded questions about China urbanization, Russo-Ukrainian tensions, Ghana’s dependence on the U.S. market, quality versus quantity of development aid, Middle East prospects, World Bank programs in Egypt, poverty in Paraguay, increased fees for advisory services, use of financial intermediaries, and climate change.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Kim, Jim Yong. 2014. Opening Press Conference at the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, April 10, 2014. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24334 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Development Committee Closing Press Conference(2013-10-12)Jim Yong Kim (President of the World Bank Group), Christine Lagarde (Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund), and Marek Belka (Chairman of the Development Committee) made opening statements. Belka emphasized that the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity must be pursued in a sustainable manner. Over the past six months, we have witnessed intensive consultations and analysis designed to put the flesh on the bones--to work out a detailed strategy by which the Bank Group will set out to translate the goals into operational programs with its borrowing member countries. Kim highlighted one major shift in the strategy—leveraging IDA to increase investment in fragile states. Lagarde focused on growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, including increased technical assistance. Replenishment of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust fund has passed the 90 percent threshold. Media raised questions on emerging markets, the Mexican economy, global growth, tapering, unconventional monetary policy, U.S. growth.Publication Press Conference, Pretoria, South Africa, September 6, 2012(2012-09-06)Pravin Gordhan, South African Finance Minister, summarized the nature of the meetings held with ministers and deputies. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses that gender and equity is critical for sustainable economic development, as are good jobs for youth. He believes that along with the South African government, social inclusion and economic growth, especially in the private sector, are not mutually exclusive. The Bank is focused around this issue, and so the Bank needs to figure out a way to be the most effective organization in ending poverty and boosting prosperity. South Africa needed energy in order for the economy to grow and provide good jobs. The Bank is working with the government on many clean energy projects. Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for Africa, joined Gordhan and Kim in answering questions. Issues included South Africa’s infrastructure program, inclusive growth, new directions at the Bank, energy options, the euro crisis, mining, pension plans and other social infrastructure, the Bank’s budget for Africa. Kim stated that Africa is one of his absolute top priorities.Publication Indonesia Economic Quarterly, December 2014 : Delivering Change(Washington, DC, 2014-12)The Indonesia Economic Quarterly (IEQ) has two main aims. First, it reports on the key developments over the past three months in Indonesia s economy, and places these in a longerterm and global context. Based on these developments, and on policy changes over the period, the IEQ regularly updates the outlook for Indonesia s economy and social welfare. Second, the IEQ provides a more in-depth examination of selected economic and policy issues, and analysis of Indonesia s medium-term development challenges. It is intended for a wide audience, including policymakers, business leaders, financial market participants, and the community of analysts and professionals engaged in Indonesia s evolving economy.Publication Opening Press Conference, World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings, Lima, Peru, October 8, 2015(2015-10-08)This is the transcript of the remarks delivered by Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group. He discusses on the period of slow growth, the end of the commodity super-cycle, pending interest-rate hikes, and the continued flight of capital out of emerging markets in the world. He talks about governments that must overcome a growing demographic divide to make future progress. He talks about the climate change and the need to cut emissions and invest in greater resilience . He speaks about developing countries that are going to get serious about increasing tax revenues, and stopping illicit flows of money. He mentions about the increase of capacity to support countries all over the world in building successful Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). He concludes by talking about Mexico and its very rapid development in the northern states and the need to apply that model for the development of southern states.Publication Guatemala Economic DNA : Harnessing Growth with a Special Focus on Jobs(Guatemala, 2014-08)This is the first edition of the of the Guatemala Economic DNA (Diagnostic for National Action) with a focus section on job creation. The report highlights the important achievements of Guatemala on the macroeconomic stability front. It also argues that these achievements will need to be secured and makes the case for an increased focus on accelerating economic growth. For example, this edition highlights that in 2013 the country's economic activity expanded by 3.7 percent in 2013, and is projected to grow around 3.6 percent in the near-term, in line with the growth of Central American economies but below the growth rate in emerging markets. Meanwhile, inflation has been managed and the authorities deserve to be recognized for their commitment to maintain macroeconomic stability. Guatemala's economy has recovered at a modest but consistent pace since the global financial crisis of 2008-09. Guatemala's macroeconomic resilience is due to prudent macroeconomic policies and a more diversified economy in comparison to other Central American countries, which has helped cushion the impact of shocks. Accelerating growth can substantially reduce poverty in Guatemala, but this will require improvements in economy-wide productivity. Public investment is essential to achieving Guatemala's development goals, yet it remains tightly constrained by a lack of resources, and the government continues to collect the lowest share of public revenues in the world relative to the size of its economy. This report, underscores the extent to which structural constraints on enterprise development slow hiring rates, discourage technology transfer, and promote informality. Several cross-cutting factors are also closely correlated with job creation in Guatemala, including financial depth, exposure to corruption, and informality. Strengthening the rule of law and streamlining regulatory systems will be essential to facilitating firm growth, fostering greater competitiveness, and boosting the returns to both labor and capital.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor, October 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-22)Fiscal conditions remained stable, with a modest widening of the deficit to 3.1 percent of GDP. New stimulus measures are expected to support short-term demand without breaching the public debt ceiling. Inflation stayed negative, reflecting lower energy and food prices amid subdued domestic demand. The central bank kept the policy rate unchanged, citing limited policy space. Thailand’s growth momentum has slowed further as manufacturing activity and services weakened as projected. Tourism remained subdued, largely due to fewer Chinese visitors. Goods exports also slowed as earlier front-loaded orders faded, particularly in agriculture and industrial goods. The Thai baht depreciated in early October as the US dollar appreciated and the current account turned negative.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Ukraine Country Environmental Analysis(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-01)The objective of the Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) is to assess the adequacy and performance of the policy, legal, and institutional framework for environmental management in Ukraine, in light of the decentralization process of environmental governance and wider reform objectives, and to provide recommendations to government to address the key gaps identified. Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe and has a population of 43 million, the majority of whom live in urban areas. It is a lower middle income country, with the services, industry and agriculture sectors being main contributors to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Ukraine faces a number of environmental challenges, as identified in its National Environmental Strategy 2020 (NES). Key among these are: air pollution; quality of water resources and land degradation; solid waste management; biodiversity loss; human health issues associated with environmental risk factors; in addition to climate change. The scope of Ukrainian environmental legislation is quite broad and comprehensive (more than 300 legal acts) and covers most areas of environmental protection and natural resources management. However, the environmental legislation faces a number of weaknesses:The environmental legislation is largely declaratory in nature and does not have all the essential enforcement mechanisms for the implementation of legal acts and international agreements; Many of the acts are not coordinated with each other; and Legislation undergoes limited analysis of its impact—for example, no in-depth analysis such as Regulatory Impact Analysis is conducted for proposed pieces of legislation.Publication Lebanon Donors Conference--Paris III(2007-01-25)Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, remarked that Lebanon stands at a critical crossroad in the wake of the war in the previous summer. Lebanon now needs to go beyond reconstruction. He reviewed the implementation of the Lebanese Government’s economic and social reform program. The World Bank Group is providing financing support in three areas: first, the unprecedented step of providing grants from World Bank Group income for recovery and reconstruction. Second, the International Finance Corporation will provide 250 to 275 million dollars in financing for Lebanon’s financial and business community, including a guarantee program for small and medium-sized enterprises and a trade finance facility. Third, the Bank extended up to 700 million dollars in IBRD financing to support the implementation of the Government’s program, particularly its efforts to stimulate growth and to meet the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable elements of the population. The Bank is prepared to continue and intensify efforts in assisting the Government to implement its programs, to build institutional capacity, to improve procurement and financial management to undertake sector reforms, with a particular focus on those sectors such as power, which are key to the overall success of the program.The people of Lebanon have called on the world to help revive their economy. We have an opportunity to restore hope and stability that the Lebanese people and their children so deeply deserve.Publication Regional Poverty and Inequality Update: Latin America and the Caribbean, October 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-23)This brief summarizes recent facts related to poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) using the latest wave of harmonized household surveys from the Socio-Economic Database for LAC (SEDLAC). This brief was produced by the Poverty Global Practice in the LAC Region of the World Bank.