Publication: Remarks at Media Roundtable during Annual Meetings 2021
Loading...
Files in English
104 downloads
Date
2021-10-11
ISSN
Published
2021-10-11
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
World Bank Group President David Malpass discussed a broad range of development issues, including the economic outlook, growth, vaccines, debt, climate, and trade. World Bank financing operations will be addressed at the annual meeting as well as our climate change action plan, which aims to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve adaptation. We expect global growth of 5.7 percent in 2021 and 4.4 percent in 2022, these are very similar to our projections in the June Global Economic Prospects report. Incoming high-frequency data point to slowing momentum in global activity amid persistent supply chain bottlenecks and COVID-19 surges. Moreover, the global recovery remains dramatically uneven. The outlook is challenging for much of the developing world with lagging vaccination rates, rising inflation, limited policy support, too few jobs, and shortages that extend to food, water, and electricity. As of mid-2021, over half of IDA countries, those are the world’s poorest countries, are in external debt distress or at high risk of it. A comprehensive approach, including debt reduction, swifter restructuring and more transparency is needed to help countries assess and manage their external debt risks and work toward sustainable debt levels and terms. These are fundamental to supporting health systems, education, and infrastructure and creating growth, investment, and prosperity. Enhanced and accelerated implementation of the Common Framework will be critical in achieving this much-needed debt transparency and sustainability.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Malpass, David. 2021. Remarks at Media Roundtable during Annual Meetings 2021. Delivered October 11, 2021;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36487 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Remarks at Media Roundtable during Annual Meetings 2019(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-10-16)David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, fielded questions from the media. He spoke about fundraising for the nineteenth replenishment of IDA. He explained the importance of debt transparency. He discussed the World Bank's role in Ukraine in terms of land reform, the reform of the financial system, reform of state-owned enterprises, reform of the of Ukraine's fiscal structure, and related issues. He discussed the Bank’s work on climate change and the environment. He highlighted the sluggish growth of investment in developing countries, but with good policies, countries can find a way to go against the trend and improve their growth outlook. He commented on trade facilitation and trade integration in Africa. He cautioned about the slowness of world trade growth and its implications on developing countries.Publication Remarks to the Spring Meetings 2021 Development Committee(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-04-09)World Bank Group President David Malpass spoke about how the Development Committee plays an essential and unique role in the international cooperation architecture. He highlighted the actions taken by World Bank to respond quickly to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which includes new COVID-related emergency health programs in 112 countries, vaccination operations that are expected to reach four billion dollars in commitments available in fifty countries by mid-year, and a quick doubling of trade and working capital finance to help fill the banking vacuum that hit private sectors. He urged all to consider how we can restore growth in developing countries and help reverse the growing inequality, in terms of access to vaccinations, unsustainable debt, and adverse climate impacts. He was very pleased with the G20’s endorsement of advancing the IDA replenishment cycle to 2021. He mentioned that the main elements of the World Bank Group’s Climate Change Action Plan were presented last week. He discussed the three topics of Debt, Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccines, and Green Resilient and Inclusive Development which are critical to a sustainable recovery. He concluded we can generate a recovery that ensures a broad and lasting rise in prosperity, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable.Publication Transcript of Media Roundtable for East Asia and the Pacific(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-07-15)David Malpass, President of the World Bank, remarked that the immediate priority for developing countries is widespread access to Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines that match their deployment programs. in response to the sharp increase in demand, the World Bank has increased financing for vaccines to twenty billion dollars globally over the next eighteen months. He spoke about providing grants to the countries that are most in need, including fragile and small states. The World Bank is working jointly with the IMF in order to use the Common Framework in order to provide debt relief for countries and create the fiscal space they need. The new World Bank climate change action plan is going to create a shift in paradigm in order to connect development and investment and to focus on priorities in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.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 Remarks at the Western and Central Africa Regional Media Roundtable(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05-20)World Bank Group President David Malpass spoke about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has taken a toll on African lives, economies, and livelihoods. The World Bank intends to invest and mobilize about $150 billion over the next five years in Africa to support the continent’s recovery from the pandemic and its long-term development. He urged countries that expect to have excess vaccine supplies to release their excess as soon as possible to developing countries that have delivery programs in place. He emphasized the need for greater transparency in contracts between governments, pharmaceutical companies, and organizations that are involved in vaccine production and delivery so that financing can be directed effectively, and countries can plan for receipt and deployment. The World Bank yesterday launched a comprehensive online portal that provides easy access to information about their projects, including individual country-financing operations. He spoke about comprehensive debt solutions which will involve at least four elements: debt suspension, debt reduction, debt resolution, and debt transparency. He stated that without private creditors fully onboard, the Common Framework will not deliver a sustainable solution for Chad, Ethiopia, or Zambia. As countries work to recover, tackling climate change will be key for the region. The Bank is also working to address fragility, conflict, and violence. He concluded that while we know that the road to recovery will be long, countries in the region have applied lessons from previous crisis such as the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014, and many countries have strengthened their social safety nets to help protect the poor that have been most affected by the crisis, and to move faster on key reforms and investments that will be crucial for long-term development.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.Publication Remarks to the Annual Meetings 2020 Development Committee(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10-16)David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, announced that the Board approved a fast track approach to emergency health support programs that now covers 111 countries. Most projects are well advanced, with average disbursement upward of 40 percent. The goal is to take broad, fast action early. The operational framework presented back in June has positioned the Bank to help countries address immediate health threats and social and economic impacts and maintain our focus on long-term development. The Bank is making good progress toward the 15-month target of 160 billion dollars in surge financing. Much of it is for the poorest countries and will take the form of grants or low-rate, long-maturity loans. IFC, through the Global Health Platform, will be providing financing to vaccine manufacturers to foster expanded production of COVID-19 vaccines in both part 1 and 2 countries, providing production is reserved for emerging markets. The Development Committee holds a unique place in the international architecture. It is the only global forum in which the Governments of developed countries and the Governments of developing countries, creditor countries and borrower countries, come together to discuss development and the ‘net transfer of resources to developing countries.’ The current International Financial Architecture system is skewed in favor of the rich and creditor countries. It is important that all voices are heard, so Malpass urged the Ministers of developing countries to use their voice and speak their minds today. Malpass urged consideration of how we can build a new approach to debt restructuring that allows for a fair relationship and balance between creditors and debtors. This will be critical in restoring growth in developing countries; and helping reverse the inequality.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.