Revamp of World Bank, lenders needed to tackle global problems: Yellen

WASHINGTON: The World Bank and development lenders need to evolve to tackle the complex challenges that the world is facing, such as by going beyond country-based lending, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday.

Her comments, delivered at the Center for Global Development think tank, follow warnings that global recession risks are growing on the back of shocks like the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Emerging markets and developing countries are often most acutely affected both by global shocks and by spillovers from the policies of advanced countries,” said Yellen.

While efforts to combat poverty have mostly been country-focused in the past, a different approach is needed in the face of problems such as climate change and pandemics.

Yellen’s remarks come days before policymakers gather in Washington for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

“I, along with leaders from a broad group of countries, will be calling on World Bank management at the annual meetings next week... to develop a World Bank evolution roadmap by December,” she said.

The meetings come at a tough time for the global economy, which has largely controlled the virus but faces surging inflation and rising interest rates that threaten to choke off nascent recoveries.