THE World Bank Group President, David Malpass, says the bank has disbursed $11 billion to support Ukraine since its invasion by Russia.
He spoke at the weekend while addressing members of the Development Committee.
Malpass said the sum was from the $13 billion mobilised from partners.
He said: “I wanted to mention three other near-term risks. First is Russia’s war on Ukraine. With your support, we have mobilised $13 billion and disbursed $11 billion of that support rapidly into Ukraine. We will continue this work, and we invite your financing flows.”
He added that there was danger to food, energy, and fertilizer.
“We are continuing our rapid ramp-up of support by delivering $30 billion to address food insecurity,” Malpass said.
He called attention to the backsliding on greenhouse gas emissions throughout 2022, adding that there were sharp increases in the export and burning of coal, oil, and wood.
“I also wanted to address longer-term crises. We can’t only focus on the immediate and need to look longer term as well. One is slower global growth that’s been weighing down countries, particularly, developing countries. The long-term outlook is modest at best and could be even slower. There has been a severe concentration of capital in the world, adding to inequality, which needs to be addressed.
“We also need to make progress on debt, debt reduction, and transparency. The debt service expected in 2022 from the IDA countries, the poorest countries in the world, is $44 billion and that is more than the combined resources of the Bank and IMF to these counties. This leaves developing countries without the fiscal space for education, climate adaptation, and other necessary means,” he said.
Another long-term challenge, he said, is the need for progress on climate change.
“It’s been a prominent topic of discussion throughout the Annual Meetings. We welcome greatly the U.S. contribution to the Clean Technology Fund that was announced this week. We have launched the SCALE trust fund, which we will continue to provide details and invite discussion on, with the goal of achieving verifiable emissions reduction. This has been the missing link in the global system to achieve meaningful emissions reduction.
“We’re filling the information gap with our Country Climate and Development Reports, or CCDRs, which form the basis for our future country programs. And we note, with emphasis, the missing gap in the world for global public goods and how for the world to deal with those.”
