As part of the 2016 World Bank Group-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings held this past week in Washington, D.C., a fascinating panel discussion, A New Vision for Financing Development, took place on Sunday, April 17. Moderated by Michelle Fleury, BBC's New York business correspondent, it included World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, Bill Gates, Justine Greening (UK Secretary of State for International Development),Raghuram Rajan (Governor of the Reserve Bank of India), and Seth Terkper (Minister for Finance and Economic Planning of Ghana).
The panel was in consensus about the current challenging economic and social environment facing the world as a whole. That environment includes low rates of economic growth across the world, drastic reductions in the price of commodities that are impacting negatively low-and middle-income countries, rising inequality, frequent natural disasters and pandemics, increased number of displaced populations and refugees due to conflict and violence spilling across national borders and continents, and the ambitious United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A question debated in the panel was, Where will the resources be found to address these challenges? This question is critical under the current scenario if countries are to continue to build on the progress achieved over the last decade and maintain previous gains.
Gates noted that new and innovative tools are required alongside the promotion, adoption, and adaptation of good practices to make a difference in dealing with these challenges. Terkper advocated for maintaining official development assistance commitments and adopting flexible risk-sharing financial instruments by multilateral organizations to help countries attract and leverage private investment. The importance of investing in the development of healthy and productive populations as key engines of economic and social development over the medium and longer terms was stressed by Kim, who argued that many governments have to be convinced to invest in "soft sectors" — health, nutrition, and education — compared to the "hard sectors" — roads, ports, and energy infrastructure. Read More>
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