CAIRO – World Bank Group President David Malpass lauded the strong ties with the WB member states, including Egypt, pointing out that the bank looks forward to working with Egypt towards a successful 2022 global climate conference, COP27.
Malpass’ remarks came as he addressed the G24 meeting of ministers and governors, held in Washington, as he highlighted the efforts of WB to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate climate action.
“We already supported 49 countries across all regions with $6.3 billion committed in operations that include food security and nutrition, only in the first months of the (Russian-Ukrainian) war, until June 2022… including a $500 million project in Egypt to maintain uninterrupted access to bread for poor and vulnerable households, strengthen the country’s resilience to food crises, and support reforms that will help improve nutritional outcomes,” Malpass said.
The developing world is facing an extremely challenging outlook shaped by sharply higher food, fertilizer, and energy prices, rising interest rates and credit spreads, currency depreciation, capital outflows, and higher level of debts that adds to higher inflation, impacting especially the poor, he said. With the current trends, the risks of a global recession in 2023 are high, he added.
“In this context, the World Bank Group stands ready to support you, both IDA and IBRD countries – as the availability and cost of financing are challenging, more so as global interest rates increase.”
He pointed out that the world is not going to meet the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. COVID-19 impacts have been devastating and the impacts of the war in Ukraine increased the challenges. It’s a crisis facing development, according to him.
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed about 70 million people into extreme poverty in 2020 – “the largest since our monitoring began,” he said. “And the global median income declined by 4 percent in 2020 – the first decline since our measurements of median income began. Geopolitical conflicts, and extreme weather events have hurt countries and people worldwide, with the poor bearing the brunt, especially women and girls.”
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