Finance Minister commends package for improving WBG

Manama : The Minister of Finance, Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, referred to the proposed capital package for improving the World Bank Group (WBG) as a transformational change in how the group deals with development challenges, and the scale of financing and engagement in this respect.

He stressed that its four main pillars remain extremely relevant: serving all clients, maximizing finance for development through mobilization of private sector investments and solutions, leading on global issues, and improving the business model.

In his statement to the Development Committee, the Minister said that the package aims to provide the WBG with an average annual financing capacity of about US$100 billion between the fiscal years 2019-2030. Further, the package would generate US$315 billion of additional development financing over the same period, including an additional US$110 billion mobilized from the private sector.

The statement was delivered on behalf of the Arab Group and the Republic of Maldives to the 97th meeting of the committee, held in Washington, D.C. on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the WBG and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Sustaining and accelerating progress towards global development goals necessitates a bigger and stronger WBG, with ample financial capacity, that addresses the myriad of global challenges, Minister said.

He argued that expanding financial capacity for low-income countries through the transformation of the International Development Association (IDA) financial model, and for middle-income countries through the capital package, complements and strengthens the WBG’s reach. Moreover, maximizing financing for development and adopting private sector solutions, while assisting clients in strengthening their own domestic resource mobilization and the effectiveness of their public spending, is crucial. 

Strengthening the capital base of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was strongly welcomed by the Minister, given that the WBG and the development community as a whole had clearly established that the future of development finance would be clearly slanted towards the private sector, requiring a much stronger and larger IFC, equipped with the financial means to mobilize untapped private capital, create markets, and expand deployment of private sector solutions.