Before stakeholders meetings next week, where significant changes are anticipated to be disclosed, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told AFP that the World Bank’s continuing reform may increase lending by $50 billion over the following ten years.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings will take place next week in the US capital, attracting central bankers, finance ministers, and others from more than 180 member nations.
The development of the World Bank will be a major topic of debate in light of calls for lenders to modernise and address issues like climate change. The World Bank Group’s main stakeholder is the United States.
In the interview with AFP on Thursday, Yellen stated, “I anticipate there to be an updating of the bank’s mission to add strengthening resilience against climate change, pandemics, and war to the fundamental aims.
Furthermore, it must be acknowledged that these problems are not independent or in opposition to one another, but are instead intimately intertwined.
“Second,” Yellen added, “there will be a declaration that the bank is stretching its financial capability to fulfil these objectives and adopting modifications or recommending measures that might result in an additional $50 billion in extra lending capacity over the next decade.”
A 20% increase in the level of sustainable financing for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) would result from the action. The IBRD is the World Bank’s lending division for middle-income countries.
Yellen also mentioned that an update to the bank’s operating model will be made to “orient it towards the goals that we’re setting.” This means, among other things, providing stronger incentives for the mobilisation of domestic and private resources.
In the next months of this year, we seek more reforms, Yellen stated.
The World Bank presented an evolution plan in March, and on April 12 during the spring meetings, the development committee will consider it.