The leaders of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank called on Friday October 13 for additional funding from their shareholder states in order to better help certain countries combat poverty and climate change. The annual meetings of the two institutions are being held for the first time in Marrakech, Morocco, a first on African soil since 1973.
“We are facing a decline in progress in our fight against poverty, an existential climate crisis, food insecurity, fragilities, a post-pandemic recovery that is in its early stages and we are feeling all the effects conflicts, far beyond the front lines,” lamented the new president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, in a speech delivered during the plenary session. He estimates that he can unlock some 150 billion in additional financing capacity during this decade, but has called for more funds, in particular to supplement the International Development Association (IDA), the structure of the World Bank which helps poorest countries. “No amount of creative financial engineering will make up for the fact that we simply need more funding,” he argued.
Ajay Banga further called for the next IDA bailout – which donor countries meet every three years – to be “the biggest ever”. The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, for her part, “urgently” called for a strengthening of the Fund through an increase in quotas – the money that member countries provide depending on the size of the their economy. The IMF’s ability to lend at zero interest to its poorest members must also be strengthened, she added.