"Commercial creditors must be \u2018forced\u2019 to participate in debt relief initiatives \u2013 World Bank President"

" \n David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, has demanded the \u2018forced\u2019 participation of commercial or private creditors to developing and low-income countries in debt relief initiatives. \n \n\n \n Delivering a speech virtually to the London School of Economics on building a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery from the pandemic, Mr Malpass expressing his satisfaction with the DSSI initiative that has provided beneficiary countries with some level of liquidity to fight the pandemic, however, bemoaned the non-participation of private creditors and sovereign bondholders in the DSSI. \n \n\n \n \u201cThe relief has been less than anticipated because not all creditors participated. Large non-Paris Club bilateral creditors have only partially participated in the DSSI and, most troubling of all, bondholders and other private creditors have continued to collect full repayments throughout the crisis,\u201d noted President Malpass. \n \n\n \n Adding that, the implementation of the initiative shows that private and commercial creditors won\u2019t comply with calls for \u201cvoluntary participation\u201d in debt relief initiatives, further demanding that they be \u2018forcefully encouraged\u2019 to participate in debt relief programmes. \n \n\n \n \u201cThe recent DSSI experience shows that commercial creditors won\u2019t comply with calls for \u201cvoluntary participation\u201d in debt relief initiatives. As the implementation of the Common Framework commences, G20 countries need to instruct and create incentives for all their public bilateral creditors to participate in debt relief efforts, including national policy banks. They also need to forcefully encourage the private creditors under their jurisdiction to participate fully in sovereign debt relief efforts for low-income countries.\u201d \n \n\n \n \u201cThere are specific measures that should be considered by G7 countries to encourage more participation. To give just one example, sovereign immunity laws might be amended to include immunity from attachment by commercial creditors who refuse to participate in a Common Framework treatment in which their Government is participating,\u201d he stated. \n \n\n \n Speaking further, President Malpass noted the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) has enabled 43 countries to postpone around $5.7 billion in debt-service payments between May and December of last year, with further savings of up to $7.3 billion expected by the initiative's end-date of June 2021. \n \n\n \n He therefore called for an additional six months extension of the DSSI through to the end of 2021 as many countries are still battling COVID-19 and facing a liquidity squeeze.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n Mr Malpass in his speech touched on three key areas; climate change, debt and inequality. \n \n\n \n Read below the entire speech of President David Malpass: \n \n\n \n Building a Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Recovery: Speech by World Bank Group President David Malpass \n \n\n \n Introduction \n \n\n \n Thank you, Baroness Shafik. It\u2019s a pleasure to be here with you, a distinguished alumna of the World Bank Group, and other distinguished World Bank alumni at LSE including Lord Stern, our former Chief Economist. And thanks to the London School of Economics for hosting me virtually. Today, I will set the stage ahead of the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings. This provides an opportunity to engage partners on urgent matters, including work on climate change, debt, and inequality, working toward a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery. \n \n\n \n Let me begin by acknowledging the importance of the United Kingdom within the World Bank Group. The UK is the largest contributor to IDA. It is the IBRD\u2019s fifth-largest shareholder, and I enjoy strong relationships with Prime Minister Johnson, Secretary of State Raab, Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak, Bank of England Governor Bailey, President of COP26 Alok Sharma, and members of Parliament, civil society, the private sector, academia, and media. Our office in London works to promote consensus around the international development agenda and build a platform for collaboration on shared priorities. \n \n\n \n More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the scale of the tragedy is unprecedented: 127 million infections, 2.8 million deaths, more than 100 million people pushed into extreme poverty, the equivalent of 250 million jobs lost, and a quarter-billion people driven into acute hunger. Besides its immediate harm, COVID-19 is leaving lasting \u201cscars:\u201d closed schools and physical stunting of children; collapsed businesses and lost jobs; the depletion of savings and assets; and debt overhangs that will depress investment and squeeze out urgent social spending. \n \n\n \n COVID-19 descended on the poor like wildfire. It was layered on several slow-burning crises\u2014rising conflict and violence, refugee camps, stagnant median incomes, reckless lending and poorly chosen debt contracts, and damage caused by climate change. Because these crises struck at different speeds, the natural tendency everywhere was to tackle them separately\u2014one-at-a-time, without sufficient attention to cross-connections that might have enabled a more effective response. \n \n\n \n The world is developing a better line of sight forward. Our collective responses to poverty, climate change, and inequality will be the defining choices of our age. It is time to move urgently toward opportunities and solutions that achieve sustainable and broad-based economic growth without harming climate, degrading the environment, or leaving hundreds of millions of families in poverty. We\u2019re calling our approach to these interlinked crises GRID\u2014Green, Resilient, Inclusive Development. \n \n\n \n In previous addresses, I\u2019ve detailed some of the World Bank Group\u2019s actions in helping countries respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, tackle what I\u2019ve called the \u201cpandemic of inequality,\u201d and work toward recovery.\u00a0 These include new COVID-related emergency health programs in 112 countries, vaccination operations that we expect will reach $4 billion of commitments available in 50 countries by mid-year, and a quick doubling of our trade and working capital finance to help fill the banking vacuum that hit private sectors.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n Despite COVID-related work-from-home restrictions, the World Bank had record 65% growth in program delivery in 2020\u2014an even bigger surge than the height of the global financial crisis response in 2009\u2014and this elevated level of delivery is continuing in 2021.\u00a0 It\u2019s important that every commitment has the greatest possible development impact and robust operational policies and review processes.\u00a0 And we\u2019re building a culture of contestability, where we encourage our highly diverse, multi-disciplinary and globally experienced staff to challenge each other\u2019s perspectives and help to enhance the quality of operations, throughout both preparation and implementation. \n \n\n \n External input is vital too, including from development professionals and schools such as yours. Each of our Country Partnership Frameworks is developed with citizen participation. We\u2019re working to help countries build \u201cCountry Platforms\u201d to engage with a wider groups of development actors as they develop the programs we support. External experts frequently participate in the development of our projects and programs. And in the past year, we\u2019ve taken significant steps to enhance the accountability mechanisms for both the World Bank, and for IFC and MIGA. It\u2019s worth mentioning that IFC has committed $330 billion in long term finance from 1960-2021, and over half of this has been delivered just in the last 10 years. \n \n\n \n I encourage each of you to read World Bank country programs, project documents, and our knowledge sharing to think about what works\u2014and possibly what doesn\u2019t. Good development outcomes in countries are at the heart of the Bank\u2019s mission and activities. The challenge extends to every academic discipline, and we need faster progress across the board\u2014in water, nutrition, education, health, infrastructure, electricity access, governance, regulation, taxation, connectivity, inclusion, tolerance, and a host of other critical issues. \n \n\n \n I\u2019m going to focus today on three of the most pressing challenges \u2013 climate, debt, and inequality. But first allow me to give you some of the background and context. \n \n\n \n The World Bank was created with the IMF in 1944 before World War II was over. The first goal for the Bank was post-war reconstruction and development, and the first arm of the World Bank Group was IBRD, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Today, it\u2019s made up of 189 member countries, or shareholders, and operates somewhat like a non-profit bank, making floating and fixed rate loans to governments for development purposes, for example to support expenditures on clean water, climate, or education. \n \n\n \n A second important arm of the Bank is IDA, the International Development Association, which started in 1960 explicitly to help the world\u2019s poorest countries.\u00a0 IDA aims to reduce poverty by providing grants and very long-term, zero-rate or near-zero-rate loans.\u00a0 In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, IDA made commitments for 305 projects totaling $30 billion, of which 26% was provided on grant terms.\u00a0 Since its inception, IDA has provided about $450 billion for investments in 114 countries.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n It is an effective way for donors to provide highly concessional financing to poorer nations.\u00a0 Due to the severity of the pandemic, IDA was able to accelerate its financing commitments dramatically in 2020, and I\u2019m happy to say our shareholders have agreed to an early replenishment of IDA in order to continue current elevated levels of assistance to the poorest countries.\u00a0 We\u2019re working to conclude an ambitious IDA20 replenishment by December, with the support of major contributors including the UK. \n \n\n \n The WBG is the largest of the multilateral development banks, making over $100 billion in grants and loans over the last year and raising nearly $100 billion in global bond markets. In addition to IBRD and IDA, we have an important arm to support the private sector, IFC, and a guarantee agency to support investment in developing countries, MIGA. \n \n\n \n During my tenure as President, we\u2019ve made several important changes at the WBG to make our work as effective as possible.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to mention the realignment that was completed last June.\u00a0 It increases management accountability and brings staff closer to clients and country programs.\u00a0 The realignment created a greater focus on country-level impact, supported by more operationally relevant and policy-focused knowledge programs and research.\u00a0 The organizational goal is to apply the Bank\u2019s global knowledge in client countries to achieve development outcomes that will be transformational and scalable.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n At the country-level, we are focusing more on countries afflicted by fragility, conflict, and violence.\u00a0 We have expanded our presence and our delivery in these FCV countries, which will be critical in our work to support refugees, reduce migration and violence, and help countries and regions stabilize.\u00a0 In the next few years, these steps will lead to a smaller footprint in Washington and a growing majority of our globally and locally recruited staff in developing countries. \n \n\n \n Topic 1: Climate \n \n\n \n Now let me turn to climate, one of my three focus topics today. I know climate is on all our minds, and perhaps particularly in the UK as the hosts of COP26 in Glasgow this November. The World Bank is actively supporting developing countries to achieve significant progress on the climate agenda through the lens that investing in climate offers development opportunities. \n \n\n \n The World Bank Group is the biggest provider of climate finance to the developing world. My first year as President saw the biggest climate investments in our history\u2014and investments in my second year are on track to be bigger still. We\u2019ve set an ambitious new target of 35% for climate investments on average over the next five years\u2014meaning that 35% of the financing within our investments as a whole is supporting developing country climate benefits. To give you a sense of the scale of the ambition, over the previous 5 years the World Bank Group climate finance was 26% of a significantly smaller amount of lending. \n \n\n \n Our climate financing will be used toward \u201cmitigation\u201d efforts, to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions and their impacts; and for \u201cadaptation\u201d efforts, to help countries prepare for negative climate effects. We\u2019ve set a second important target in that regard. Of our total climate finance over the next five years, at least 50% on average will be for adaptation. I\u2019d expect the share of adaptation to be particularly large in the IDA countries, which currently account for just 4% of global emissions, even as many of them suffer life-threatening climate change impacts. \n \n\n \n In addition to these high targets for financing, we are working to achieve the most impact in terms of results\u2014actual improvements in the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions and lives and livelihoods saved through adaptation. To help this effort, we\u2019re moving to integrate climate into all our country diagnostics and country strategies. Over the next year, we plan to complete up to 25 Country Climate and Development Reports. We\u2019ll aim to include in this first wave those developing countries with the largest carbon emissions and those with the greatest climate-vulnerabilities. We\u2019re also working to improve results-measurement to help make sure that our financing and strategies deliver impact. \n \n\n \n A key part of our climate action is to support countries with their Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, and long-term low carbon development plans.\u00a0 Countries have widely varying approaches, and we want to help them integrate climate and development as effectively as possible, including through fiscal policy and plans for sustainable growth.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n For some countries, carbon taxation will be an effective way to help guide capital and respond to the distributive impact of the response to climate change.\u00a0 Every year, G20 countries alone put tens of billions of dollars into subsidizing high carbon industries.\u00a0 If these billions could instead be used to fund a \u201cjust transition,\u201d just think how much faster we could progress toward a low-carbon, net-zero world.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n Green growth will involve severalkey systemic transformations\u2014for example, in energy, food systems, manufacturing, transportation and urban infrastructure.\u00a0 Each transformation is complicated, but these sectors account for 90% of GHG emissions, so they are the key to GHG reduction.\u00a0 One of the most challenging and important transformations is for countries to achieve a just transition from coal to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n The Bank can help countries with this, but it is complicated for a number of reasons including:\u00a0 economic dependence on coal, worker displacement as the transition occurs, the cost of new infrastructure and writing off many large, recent investments, and the importance of identifying ways to provide rapid growth in affordable, reliable and year-round base load to replace coal in the national grids of developing countries facing energy poverty.\u00a0 The world needs to make further technological breakthroughs before we can achieve a zero-carbon world. \n \n\n \n Climate presents several big challenges and opportunities for economics, finance, and development.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to mention several and encourage public discussion.\u00a0 First, how does the world help poorer countries make large investments in global public goods such as their reduction in coal usage?\u00a0 Should the costs be shared worldwide?\u00a0 If so, how?\u00a0 Second, how can national incentives be aligned and financed to help people transition to greener fuels and jobs, for example using carbon and gasoline taxes?\u00a0 Third, can an effective carbon credit market be created that allows greenhouse gas emissions for some while paying for reductions elsewhere\u2014not just certificates of notional carbon reduction but actual measurable and sustainable decarbonization?\u00a0 \n \n\n \n Fourth, how can we properly measure the full life-cycle costs and benefits of various climate policy choices?\u00a0 Fifth, how can people in poorer countries best make the necessary but expensive adaptations to climate change and how can they best prepare for future pandemics and natural disasters \u2013 knowing that preparation is much better than after-the-fact disaster relief?\u00a0 And lastly, how can the necessary progress on global public goods be best integrated with development and the necessary reductions in poverty and increases in shared prosperity? \n \n\n \n These are key questions and challenges at the core of combatting climate change. The Bank is addressing these challenges in our analytical work in low- and middle-income countries, and in our rapidly expanding climate operations. \n \n\n \n Topic 2: Debt \n \n\n \n I also want to comment on the debt situation facing poorer countries.\u00a0 At the outset, let me mention the progress that is occurring in Sudan, one of the most heavily indebted and poorest countries in Africa.\u00a0 Sudan already bears scars from decades of conflict.\u00a0 And its people face deep peril from climate change:\u00a0 food security depends on rainfall, especially in rural areas, which are home to 65% of population.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n Sudan has made strong economic progress, including the unification of its exchange rate.\u00a0 That is a key ingredient in a country\u2019s recipe toward stabilization, price stability, and productive and equitable resource allocation.\u00a0 In addition to these and other policy reforms, the Republic of Sudan has cleared its arrears to IDA, with help from the United States Government, enabling its full re-engagement with the World Bank Group after nearly three decades, and paving the way for the country to access nearly $2 billion in IDA grants for poverty reduction and sustainable economic recovery. \n \n\n \n By clearing its arrears and working with the IMF, Sudan has also completed a key step for receiving comprehensive external debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative. I\u2019ve talked about Sudan at length because this is such a breakthrough at a time when Sudan needs the world\u2019s help to support its development progress. Countries like Sudan \u2013 crushed by a burden of over $50 billion of external debt \u2013 can\u2019t tackle poverty and respond to the climate emergency until the world finds better ways to tackle unsustainable debt. \n \n\n \n While some progress on debt is underway, many of the poorer countries are coping with record debt burdens. Even before the pandemic, the World Bank report on Global Waves of Debt \u2014 which studied the causes and consequences of the four waves of debt accumulation that the global economy has experienced over the past fifty years\u2014found that half of all low-income countries were already in debt distress or at a high risk of it. The pandemic has only exacerbated the debt burden on people, many of whom would be poor even without having to pay the interest and principle on their governments\u2019 debt. \n \n\n \n Every day, high debt-service payments are diverting scarce resources that could be used for urgent needs: for health, education, nutrition \u2013 and also climate action. \n \n\n \n Since the outbreak of COVID, the World Bank has been the largest provider of net transfers to IDA and least-developed countries. From April to December 2020, our net transfers to these countries alone were close to $17 billion, of which $5.8 billion were on grant terms, and our new commitments were almost $30 billion. But much more is needed. \n \n\n \n The G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI)\u2014which I and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva called for almost exactly one year ago\u2014has helped. It has enabled 43 countries to postpone around $5.7 billion in debt-service payments between May and December of last year, with further savings of up to $7.3 billion expected between then and its current end-date of June. \n \n\n \n Yet so far, the relief has been less than anticipated because not all creditors participated. Large non-Paris Club bilateral creditors have only partially participated in the DSSI and, most troubling of all, bondholders and other private creditors have continued to collect full repayments throughout the crisis. \n \n\n \n The recent DSSI experience shows that commercial creditors won\u2019t comply with calls for \u201cvoluntary participation\u201d in debt relief initiatives. As the implementation of the Common Framework commences, G20 countries need to instruct and create incentives for all their public bilateral creditors to participate in debt relief efforts, including national policy banks. They also need to forcefully encourage the private creditors under their jurisdiction to participate fully in sovereign debt relief efforts for low-income countries. \n \n\n \n There are specific measures that should be considered by G7 countries to encourage more participation. To give just one example, sovereign immunity laws might be amended to include immunity from attachment by commercial creditors who refuse to participate in a Common Framework treatment in which their Government is participating. \n \n\n \n I believe the DSSI should be extended one more time\u2014by six months, through the end of 2021 as many countries are still battling COVID and facing a liquidity squeeze.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also time to encourage overindebted countries to adopt a debt strategy that allows them to achieve a moderate debt position.\u00a0 Debt sustainability needs to achieve more than just short-term solvency\u2014the ability to not default, while providing only minimal social and economic priorities.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n History tells us that countries with no way out of overhanging burdens of debt don\u2019t grow and don\u2019t achieve lasting reductions in poverty.\u00a0 The G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments\u2014which goes beyond the DSSI\u2014can make an important difference here. \n \n\n \n Interest-rate reductions could play a big role in some of the debt restructurings to be done under the Common Framework. Some countries are paying interest rates of 6 or 7% on their official bilateral debt\u2014and that simply cannot be justified in today\u2019s conditions. Over the past two decades, high-income advanced economies have benefited from an extraordinary decline in both short- and long-term interest rates\u2014these have dropped to nearly zero from a range of 4 to 6%. Shouldn\u2019t the poorest countries also benefit from this \u201clow for long\u201d decline? Negotiating longer maturity loans could also help. \n \n\n \n Through the Common Framework and the DSSI, we can identify unsustainable debt where it exists and help restructure it to moderate levels. For countries with high risk of debt distress, but still sustainable debt levels, we should consider reprofiling it\u2014by extending maturities, for example. But all of this will require more participation than we have seen so far from the private sector, and some official bilateral creditors. \n \n\n \n As in the climate area, the economic and finance challenges surrounding debt are huge and worthy of your attention and public discussion.\u00a0 First, what are the tradeoffs between assistance during liquidity crises for near-term debt payments versus longer-term support for sustainability that allows the people to make progress against poverty?\u00a0 For which countries is it appropriate to delay principle and interest payments but without reducing the stock of debt or the interest rates on it?\u00a0 For which countries should the total debt burden be reduced given \u2018low for long\u2019 outlook?\u00a0 \n \n\n \n Second, how can accountability be achieved given the difference in time horizons of those signing debt and investment contracts and those that bear the burden?\u00a0 For example, how can a system of contracts work when it is strongly in the interest of government officials to accept stringent contract terms for debt even though the long-term payments will be difficult?\u00a0 Third, how should the international financial system operate when there is no bankruptcy process for sovereign debt?\u00a0 How can the system resolve the glaring imbalance between creditors, who have the power and the responsibility to fully enforce contracts; and debtor countries, who are often poorer and have less capacity to resolve disagreements?\u00a0 \n \n\n \n Clearly, transparency is going to be a key part of the solution to these problems. The resistance to debt transparency is intense. Airtight nondisclosure agreements often protect contracts, leaving their terms \u2013 and sometimes even their existence \u2013 secret. Some contracts include almost the reverse of a collective action clause \u2013 a clause requiring debtors to exempt the creditor from any comparable treatment, where debt restructuring, for example with the Paris Club, is agreed. In debt, as in so many areas, sunlight is truly the best remedy. Given our long-track record in helping countries to address their debt problems, the Bank, together with the Fund, will continue to engage and support countries in their efforts to achieve a moderate debt position. \n \n\n \n Topic 3: Inequality \n \n\n \n I\u2019ve discussed climate and debt in some detail and some of the economic challenges they present.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to close with a discussion of inequality.\u00a0 As I said at the outset, our response to poverty, climate change, and inequality will be defining choices of our age.\u00a0 Inequality is most apparent in the direct effects of COVID, that hits informal workers and the vulnerable the most; and in the unequal access to vaccines for developing countries.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n It is also worsening due to the focus of fiscal and monetary stimulus on support for the formal sector and selected assets at the expensive of debt owed by future generations.\u00a0 That problem is most applicable to advanced economies, but a similar effect hits the indebted people in the developing countries because sovereign debts and debt rollovers have their biggest positive impact on those signing the contracts \u2013 creditors and debtors \u2013 whereas the burden of the debt often falls on the poor. \n \n\n \n I spoke at length about Reversing the Inequality Pandemic in October 2020 ahead of our Annual Meetings last year. I explained the work that we are doing to address the challenges posed by inequality, including our financial support through COVID-related emergency health programs and cash transfer programs. \n \n\n \n These inequalities raise a third set of economic challenges I\u2019d like to raise to your attention.\u00a0 First, what\u2019s the fastest, most effective path to better vaccine distribution? It\u2019s important for the vaccination process to start in more countries because vaccinations will take many months due to constraints in delivery capacity.\u00a0 The World Bank will have arranged vaccine financing for 50 developing countries by mid-year, but the supply issues are unresolved.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n Second, as I discussed in the climate section, how does the world finance the necessary investments in global public goods by poorer countries?\u00a0 Third, is there any pathway to developing countries for the massive fiscal stimulus and run-up in national debt being applied by the advanced economies?\u00a0 On the one hand, greater demand in the advanced economies will help create markets.\u00a0 But on the other hand, the loss of investments, skills and schooling during the pandemic has been catastrophic.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n The data is clear that poorer countries are not making the gains in living standards that were expected pre-crisis and are falling further behind.\u00a0 And, fourth, because the asset purchases by advanced economies are so large, long-term and selective, can the purchases be spread out more fairly to improve global capital allocation, benefit smaller businesses and new entrants, and allow borrowers needing short-term financing to have more access? \n \n\n \n Conclusion \n \n\n \n Let me conclude with this: COVID-19 has brought us to a crossroads. In our policy choices, as we look to the future, we can avoid errors of the past. To repair the damage, we will need integrated, long-run strategies that emphasize green, resilient, and inclusive development. This must be aligned with the need for policies that help countries increase literacy, reduce stunting and malnutrition, ensure clean water and energy access, and provide better health care. We must help countries improve their readiness for future pandemics. We need to help them accelerate the development and adoption of digital technologies. We need to work to improve and expand local supply chains and strengthen biodiversity and ecosystems. \n \n\n \n There\u2019s an important role for both the public and the private sector in all of this.\u00a0 Governments can help to lay the foundations, ensuring financing of health and education and investing in core public goods and basic infrastructure.\u00a0 Governments can also do much to clear the way by enacting appropriate legislation and creating space for the private sector wherever possible.\u00a0 They should enact policy reforms to spur private investment\u2014including FDI.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n They should help financial institutions resolve non-performing loans as quickly as possible.\u00a0 Private investment will be key in addressing climate change challenges, debt issues, and inequality \u2013 each of which require innovation, which the private sector can bring.\u00a0 The private sector also needs to accept corporate responsibility \u2013 whether that\u2019s applying robust environmental and social standards, paying taxes, or playing its part in debt resolution.\u00a0 Government and the private sector will need to cooperate in many sectors such as energy, considering joint public-private initiatives with fair burden sharing and good governance. \n \n\n \n As I\u2019ve emphasized during this address, cooperation between academics, development practitioners and policy makers also has a key role to play.\u00a0 The world faces overwhelming challenges.\u00a0 In some cases, the answers are clear, and the challenge is to communicate these clearly to policy makers.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n In other cases, academics \u2013 including those at LSE \u2013 can help to break new ground, in tackling the unanswered questions \u2013 and in doing so help to invent a greener, more resilient, and inclusive model of prosperity for the 21 st \u00a0century. \u00a0The World Bank Group can be a key champion in helping to address climate change, debt, and inequality bringing to the table public and private sector solutions, as well as the unique combination of analytics, financial support, and convening power. \n \n\n \n Today, we have a historic opportunity to change course\u2014to improve development outcomes for countries, to overcome the rising dangers of climate change, systemic inequality, social instability, and conflict. In our efforts to rebuild, we can generate a recovery that ensures a broad and lasting rise in prosperity especially for the poorest and most marginalized. It\u2019s an opportunity we cannot afford to pass up. \n \n\n \n Thank you. \n "

"Commercial creditors must be \u2018forced\u2019 to participate in debt relief initiatives \u2013 World Bank President"

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