Blitz Bureau
UNION Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has underscored the contributions of the Global South to the foundations of multilateral development banks at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, stressing the importance of diverse voices in decision-making for a more inclusive global development framework, reported DD News Sitharaman made these remarks during the Development Committee Plenary session on “A Future-Ready World Bank Group” at the 2024 World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC. Sitharaman urged the World Bank to promote a two-way exchange of innovations, drawing from the transformative experiences of the Global South in areas like digital inclusion and sustainable energy.
The Finance Minister also praised the World Bank’s initiatives over the past year to optimise balance sheet measures to increase its financial capacity, considering the growing global economic challenges and the pressing need of emerging economies to finance their developmental needs.
She further reiterated India’s stance that the World Bank should adopt a strictly evidence-based and data-driven approach when preparing global indices and country comparators such as the Worldwide Governance Indicators and the new B-Ready index.
She affirmed hope that the World Bank would chart the future path with a renewed commitment by addressing key priorities, empowering regions, and fostering partnerships, to create a future-ready institution capable of accelerating progress toward the 2030 SDGs and beyond.
In addition to her participation at the World Bank session, Sitharaman attended the IMFC Plenary session on “MD’s Global Policy Agenda” at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings. She acknowledged the resilience of the global economy in 2024, highlighting that while output is nearing potential in some economies and headline inflation is stabilizing around central bank targets, challenges remain.
