The World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Tuesday the launch of a high-level advisory group (HLAG) on sustainable and inclusive recovery and growth today to help secure a strong recovery from the pandemic and set a path for green, resilient, and inclusive development over the coming decade in fighting climate change.
Comprised of experts from research institutions, the private sector, and governments, in addition to senior staff of the WBG and IMF, the HLAG will propose ideas and frameworks for strategic and practical national and global action.
“The poor and most vulnerable have been hit hardest by COVID-19, as well as climate change, and other challenges. I look forward to this High-Level Advisory Group offering new ideas for impactful action, both at the country-level and globally, to foster green, resilient, and inclusive development and help developing countries get back on track to reduce poverty and inequality,” said the WBG’s president David Malpass.
On her side, the IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva noted that the world faces two huge crises — the pandemic, and the climate emergency — that demand radical and coordinated action.
“Through policy analysis and practical proposals, the HLAG will play a key role in this effort, and I look forward to this important collaboration,” said Georgieva.
Over the next eighteen months, the HLAG is expected to set out practical proposals in two phases, including focusing on the immediate challenge of a sustainable and inclusive recovery to inform the processes and meetings in 2021 leading up to the G20 Summit in Rome (to be held in October) and the COP26 that will be held in November.
Also, it is anticipated to deepen the analyses and formulation of actions for sustained transformation in 2022.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WBG has committed over $125 billion to fight the health, economic, and social impacts of the pandemic, which is the fastest and largest crisis response in its history.
The financing is helping more than 100 countries strengthen pandemic preparedness, protect the poor and jobs, and jump-start a climate-friendly recovery.
The bank is also providing $12 billion to help low- and middle-income countries purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments.
On climate change, the WBG is the largest multilateral financier of climate action in developing countries, having provided $83 billion in finance for climate throughout 2016-2020.
For the IMF, the fund has recently published a $50 billion roadmap to accelerate the equitable distribution of health tools to help end the health crisis that has devastated lives and livelihoods.
Since the start of the pandemic, the IMF has approved over $109 billion in financing to 84 countries, 52 of which are low-income countries.
It has also provided capacity development to 160 countries during this period. Additionally, debt relief under the IMF’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust CCRT has been extended to 29 of the IMF’s poorest and most vulnerable members, reaching almost $700 million for eligible debt service falling due to the IMF through October 15, 2021.
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