India supports World Bank’s vision to end extreme poverty, says Sitharaman

New Delhi, Oct 12  Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday participated in the 108th meeting of the development committee plenary of the World Bank in Marrakech, Morocco.

She said that India supports it’s new vision to create a world free of poverty on a liveable planet and to end extreme poverty.

During the meeting, Sitharaman encouraged World Bank to take lead in aligning processes and procedures with other multilateral development banks (MDBs) to benefit client countries that deal with multiple MDBs.

Further work is needed beyond Marrakech to increase World Bank’s capacity to realise our enhanced ambition, Sitharaman stated.

Also, while engaging in climate action in line with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,” we encourage the World Bank to be more ambitious in its commitment to adaptation finance, she added.

Sitharaman further said that enabling private capital mobilisation at scale will require an enhanced ‘One World Bank’ approach.

“At the same time, we must be realistic in our assessment of the potential of private capital mobilisation, given the global economic outlook,” she added.

Appetite for the proposed pilot Global Challenge Programmes (GCPs) will depend on strong country demand and ownership, access to new and additional finance, as well as provision of concessional finance, for both Low-Income Countries (LICs) and Middle-Income Countries (MICs), she said.

“We fully agree with the conclusion that significantly more could be done for clients by mobilising new, additional resources for the World Bank,” Sitharaman said.