Publication: Spring Meetings Press Conference Opening Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass
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2022-04-20
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2022-07-26
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These opening remarks were delivered by World Bank Group President David Malpass at Spring Meetings Press Conference on April 20, 2022. He said that we are facing COVID-19, inflation, and the war in Ukraine. He spoke about the World Bank Group has been acting fast in the face of the crises: first the Coronavirus (COVID-19) surge financing in over the last two years, which was one of the fastest and largest in our history; and now putting money into Ukraine and have moved quickly both to commitments and disbursements, including nearly 1.5 billion dollars that he announced in Poland last week. He mentioned that the World Bank Group is also working actively on climate, through its Climate Change Action Plan and the formation of Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs), which will identify the high priority items country by country, in their efforts to mitigate and to adapt to climate change. He was intrigued to see and welcomed India's moves the day before and that day to begin to sell from its stockpiles. He said that one of the solutions for the world is to recognize that markets are forward looking. He mentioned that the central banks can use tools that add to supply and that allow capital allocation to be improved. He concluded by saying that as interest rates rise, the debt pressures are mounting on developing countries, and we need to move urgently towards solutions.
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“Malpass, David. 2022. Spring Meetings Press Conference Opening Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37771 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Transcript of World Bank Group President David Malpass at Spring Meetings 2022 Opening Press Conference(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-04-20)These remarks were delivered by World Bank Group President David Malpass at Spring Meetings 2022 Opening Press Conference on April 20, 2022. He said that the World Bank Group has been acting fast in the face of the crises: first the COVID-19 surge financing in over the last two years, which was one of the fastest and largest in our history; and now putting money into Ukraine and have moved quickly both to commitments and disbursements, including nearly 1.5 billion dollars that he announced in Poland last week. He mentioned that the World Bank is working actively on climate, through their Climate Change Action Plan and the formation of Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs), which will identify the high priority items country by country, in their efforts to mitigate and to adapt to climate change. He insisted that one of the solutions for the world is to recognize that markets are forward looking. He mentioned that as interest rates rise, the debt pressures are mounting on developing countries, and we need to move urgently towards solutions. He hopes and expects that many countries will step forward with individual solutions to alleviate the food crisis and the fertilizer crisis. He explained the efforts to support people within Mexico, and the World Bank is interested in working with governmental entities on that. He spoke about Nigeria has huge opportunity because of its natural resources and because of its people, and could see its growth accelerate with improvements in policy. He insisted that there needs to be substantial investment in the backbone of the global electricity system in terms of baseload and grid in order to get through to the other side of this energy crisis. He did a joint statement with IMF, with WTO, and with the World Food Program late the week before stating these views, that it's important that the world increase supply and not close markets, not fragment markets, as we move through this crisis. He hopes, as we look at the resolution to the current crisis, one of the key steps will be for the central banks and the fiscal authorities to use their tools to improve the allocation, to allow an allocation of capital that goes more towards small businesses, new businesses, and developing countries.Publication Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass at the 2022 Annual Meetings Opening Press Conference(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-10-13)These remarks were delivered by World Bank Group President David Malpass at the 2022 Annual Meetings Opening Press Conference on October 13, 2022. The World Bank is the biggest funder of climate action. We are proposing at these meetings a new trust fund called SCALE that will allow the world and the global community to put funding into global public goods. That's the connection that needs to be set up within the global system to have an impact on greenhouse gas emission reduction. We're putting out the CCDRs, the Country Climate and Development Reports, at a rapid clip. China's came out yesterday; Vietnam's, earlier in September; and a host of others. We've done 10 countries and there will be another 20 by the time of COP27, which we're building up for. We were very pleased to have a major contribution from the U.S. to the Clean Technology Fund, which is one of the climate trust funds. To summarize, the world is facing a very challenging environment because of the advanced economies, and that has serious implications for developing countries.Publication World Bank Group Press Conference at the 2021 Spring Meetings, April 7, 2021(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-07)David Malpass, President of the World Bank, discussed vaccines, climate, and debt. The World Bank commitments grew a record amount both in percent terms and dollar terms in 2020. The Bank is providing financing for several of the countries and they can be large-scale programs, but the countries are working to arrange delivery schedules from the various vaccine providers. That will be an important part of the recovery. The Bank completed a big vaccination operation through Board, which makes financing available to Bangladesh and also technical assistance from the World Bank, which is very helpful to the countries as they try to enter contract discussions, and also as they work within their health systems in order to vaccinate people. The Bank is working actively on biodiversity and agricultural challenges facing Brazil.Publication Spring Meetings 2022 Media Roundtable Opening Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass(World Bank, Washington, DC:, 2022-04-18)This report discusses the remarks delivered by World Bank Group President David Malpass at the spring meetings 2022 media roundtable opening. He discusses on Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), inflation, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Publication Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass to the 52nd Washington Conference on the Americas(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-05-12)These remarks were delivered by World Bank Group President David Malpass to the 52nd Washington Conference on the Americas. He discusses: the Bank forecast that Latin America and the Caribbean will grow by only 2.3 percent in 2022. Energy, food, and fertilizer prices are rising at a pace not seen in many years, hitting the region’s poor particularly hard. The commodity price boom will benefit natural resource exporters and government revenue. One key unfolding crisis is the rise of inflation in advanced economies. At the primary and secondary levels, the learning losses from the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown policies need to be urgently addressed. As the leaders from the region gather for the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, it provides an opportunity to be strategic in addressing the challenges ahead.
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