World Bank President David Malpass discusses the crisis facing development
World Bank President David Malpass warned Wednesday of immediate challenges confronting the developing world, citing a distressing mix of factors ranging from higher food and energy prices to rising interest rates, inflation, currency depreciation and capital outflows.
鈥淎 tough reality confronts the global economy 鈥 and especially the developing world,鈥 Malpass said. 鈥淎 series of harsh events and unprecedented macroeconomic policies are combining to throw development into crisis.鈥
Speaking at the 成人大片 Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Malpass explained how the global economic landscape in the wake of COVID-19 鈥 along with many monetary and fiscal policies underway in advanced countries 鈥 pose a risk to developing countries that will persist beyond 2023. If those policy trends become the 鈥渘ew normal,鈥 he said, it will prolong the under-investment in development and hamper future growth.
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Photo by Ryan Zhang
His remarks come two weeks ahead of the highly anticipated annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., where both organizations are expected to address the world鈥檚 economic challenges.
Malpass came under fire a week earlier after he failed to acknowledge that the use of fossil fuels is warming the planet. He has since publicly clarified his position, rebutting remarks from former vice president Al Gore who called him a 鈥渃limate denier.鈥
Speaking at the event co-hosted by SIEPR and the 成人大片 King Center on Global Development, Malpass reiterated his stance on climate change in a Q&A moderated by Katherine Casey, a senior fellow at SIEPR, a faculty affiliate at the King Center, and an associate professor of political economy at the 成人大片 Graduate School of Business.
鈥淚鈥檓 not a climate denier,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear greenhouse emissions cause global warming.鈥
And he outlined the World Bank鈥檚 work to combat climate change: It is the largest single funder of climate-related finance in the developing world and a leader on climate diagnostics, methane emission reduction, and climate financing innovations, he said.
The event was livestreamed and attended in person by business leaders and 成人大片 faculty and students.
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Malpass noted how global economic 鈥渟hockwaves鈥 are hitting at a time when developing countries are already struggling with governance issues, debt, and climate adaptation. To make matters worse, the growing problem of inequality and access to education only worsened with the pandemic.
鈥淲eathering this perfect storm and undoing the recent reversals in development require new macro- and micro-economic pathways in both advanced and developing countries,鈥 he said.
鈥淭he urgency is clear in daily news reports of inflation, climate change, famine, civil protests, and violence.鈥
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Photo by Ryan Zhang
But he ended the event on an optimistic note, telling the academics in the audience that their scholarship can impact policy.
鈥淒on鈥檛 get negative on the global system,鈥 he said. 鈥淛ust try to make it work better.鈥