World Bank IMF and Dev Agencies | |
World Bank IMF and Dev Agencies | |
2549 VIEWS | |
![]() | |
PROSHARE | |
PROSHARE |
Friday,
October 16, 2020 / 8:14 AM / By IMF / Header Image Credit: Today News Africa
We express our sympathies for the loss of human
lives caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and reiterate our commitment to
mitigating the health and economic impact of the pandemic on people worldwide.
A tentative global economic recovery is underway,
supported by extraordinary macroeconomic policy responses. But the recovery is
partial, uneven, and marked by significant uncertainty, with the pandemic
continuing to spread in places. The crisis threatens to leave long-lasting
scars on the global economy, such as weaker productivity growth, heavier debt
burdens, heightened financial vulnerabilities, and higher poverty and
inequality. Other longstanding challenges also persist.
To support the recovery, we will sustain our
extraordinary and agile policy response, tailored to the different stages of
the crisis and country-specific circumstances. We commit to using all available
policy tools, individually and collectively, to restore confidence, jobs, and
growth. We stand ready to assist the most vulnerable countries and
people. We emphasize the need for international cooperation to accelerate
the research, development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19
diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, with the aim of supporting equitable
and affordable access for all, which is key to overcoming the pandemic and
supporting global economic recovery. As the crisis abates, we will continue to
aim for a robust recovery in growth as we gradually shift fiscal resources from
broad-based to more targeted support and facilitate structural transformation,
cushioning the impact on jobs, vulnerable people, and viable firms, while
preserving debt sustainability. Monetary policies should remain accommodative,
in line with central banks' mandates. We will continue to monitor and, as
necessary, tackle financial vulnerabilities and risks to financial stability,
including with macroprudential policies. We reaffirm our exchange rate
commitments.
We will sustain and strengthen our efforts to
achieve strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth, while making the
most of current economic, social, environmental, technological, and demographic
transformations, in a way consistent with our pre-crisis agenda. We will
advance structural reforms to lift growth, employment, and productivity. Free,
fair, and mutually beneficial goods and services trade and investment are key
engines for growth and job creation. We will promote investment with high
social and economic returns, and aim to unlock the potential of the digital
economy while addressing related challenges. We reaffirm our commitment to
strong governance, including by tackling corruption. We will maintain a
well-functioning international monetary system and enhance our efforts to strengthen
international frameworks and cooperation. We commit to working together to help
vulnerable countries meet their financing needs. We will also work together to
continue to enhance debt transparency and sustainable financing practices by
both debtors and creditors, public and private. We will support countries' efforts to maintain debt sustainability, or to restore it where debt is
unsustainable, and will work together with all stakeholders to improve the
architecture for sovereign debt resolution.
We welcome the Managing Director's Global Policy
Agenda.
We welcome the IMF's exceptional actions to help
members overcome the crisis through policy advice, capacity development, and
rapid financial support. We look forward to the IMF continuing its strong
engagement in close collaboration with its partners. To this end, we support
the IMF's efforts to fully utilize and, if needed, further adapt its lending
toolkit to help the membership address financing needs in the uncertain
environment brought about by the pandemic. We also support the IMF continuing
to explore additional tools that could serve its members' needs as the crisis
evolves, drawing on relevant experiences from previous crises. We support the
IMF's resumption of focused bilateral surveillance. We welcome the IMF's
continued focus on crisis-related issues and support to members to build a more
resilient global economy, including by addressing longstanding and increasingly
urgent challenges. In this context, we support the IMF's work on other issues,
where macro-critical and consistent with its mandate, including the
macroeconomic implications and policies related to social spending, governance,
climate change, fintech, and digitalization. We support the IMF's enhanced
assistance to help address particular challenges faced by small states, fragile
and conflict-affected states, and countries hosting refugees.
Ensuring that the IMF can support its poorest and
most vulnerable members, which do not have substantial market access, is
essential. We welcome the extension of debt service relief for another six
months under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) and progress
made in securing additional loan resources for the Poverty Reduction and Growth
Trust (PRGT). We support the IMF's efforts to further expand PRGT and CCRT
resources, and look forward to additional grant contributions, including from
new participants. We support the extension of the Debt Service Suspension
Initiative (DSSI). We are disappointed by the absence of progress of private
creditors' participation in the DSSI, and strongly encourage them to
participate on comparable terms when requested by eligible countries. We
encourage the full participation of official bilateral creditors. We ask the
IMF to continue to support effective and transparent DSSI implementation,
together with the World Bank. We welcome the G20's agreement in principle on a "Common Framework for Debt Treatment beyond the DSSI," which is also agreed by
the Paris Club. We look forward to the publication of the Common Framework by
the time of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in
November 2020. We also welcome the IMF's continued efforts to facilitate timely
and comprehensive debt resolution by supporting enhanced coordination of official
creditors; identifying gaps in the international architecture for the
resolution of private claims and engaging with private creditors and other
stakeholders; and reviewing the IMF's policies related to sovereign debt. We
call on the IMF to prepare an analysis of the external financing needs of
developing countries and sustainable financing options.
We reaffirm our commitment to a strong,
quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF at the center of the global financial
safety net. We welcome progress on making effective the doubling of the New
Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) and the new round of bilateral borrowing
agreements (BBA) on January 1, 2021 and urge all NAB and BBA participants to
secure the domestic ratification of their participation as soon as possible. We
will keep demand for IMF resources under close review. We remain committed to
revisiting the adequacy of quotas and will continue the process of IMF
governance reform under the 16th General Review of Quotas,
including a new quota formula as a guide, by December 15, 2023.
Our next meeting is expected to be held on April
10, 2021.
Related News