The President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass, has said the bank is working on a crisis response of around $170bn in financing capacity to address the wide-ranging needs of Nigeria and other crisis-ridden countries between April 2022 and June 2023.
Speaking during his address to the Development Committee of this year’s World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, Malpass noted that the gathering was timely as it took place at a time of overlapping global crises.
According to a newsletter titled “Helping countries cope with multiple crises,” Malpass was quoted as saying that “bank group is working on a crisis response of around $170bn in financing capacity to address the wide-ranging needs of client countries between April 2022 and June 2023.
“This is modeled on the rapid surge in financing that the Bank Group provided in response to COVID-19, which provided $157bn over a 15-month period to help countries address the health, economic, and social impacts of the pandemic.”
The chair’s statement by the Development Committee, a ministerial-level forum that represents 189 member countries of the two organisations, noted that the impacts would be felt most in low- and middle-income countries, especially by their most vulnerable people, including women and children.
According to the letter, economic recovery is at risk amid geopolitical tensions, with investment, trade, and growth affected, even as countries face further risks from the pandemic and uneven deployment of vaccines.
In his remarks to the committee, Malpass described how the crises were affecting the global economy. He emphasised that the atrocities committed against civilians and the loss of lives and livelihoods from the war in Ukraine were devastating.
The spillover effects are being felt worldwide, with rising energy and food prices quickly impacting the most vulnerable, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.
“The war must end now,” he said.
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