World Bank chief calls for dramatic hike in funding to help developing world
A dramatic increase in financial help is needed to help poor countries meet the $2.4tn (£1.9tn) annual cost of coping with the combined impact of wars, pandemics and the climate crisis, the outgoing head of the World Bank has said.
Speaking in Niger, David Malpass defended his record for funding support for developing countries since becoming president of the Washington-based organisation and said further increases would probably be announced at the Bank’s spring meeting next month.
“During the last four years, we have shown that financing for development can be quickly ramped up,” Malpass said. “Development needs have increased dramatically and so should development finance, to help countries such as Niger implement good development policies that support their citizens, boost economic growth, alleviate poverty, maintain peace and respond to complex global problems.”
Malpass was chosen by Donald Trump to run the World Bank in 2019, and said last month he would step down with a year of his term to go after facing criticism from senior members of Joe Biden’s administration. John Kerry, Biden’s climate emergency envoy, said the Bank should be doing more to meet the challenges of global heating.
Under an agreement stretching back to the 1940s, an American has run the World Bank while a European has been the managing director of its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund. The White House has nominated Ajay Banga, a US citizen born in India and former head of Mastercard, to replace Malpass, although he is unlikely to be formally chosen until after the spring meeting.
In a curtain-raising speech before the spring meetings, Malpass said the investment needs of poor nations were vast. “We estimate that developing
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