In times of crisis and war
IMF and World Bank start spring conference
04/10/2023 09:13 am
Inflation, turbulence in the banking sector, climate change, the risk of a debt crisis – and then war: there are enough topics when the IMF and the World Bank meet in Washington for the spring conference.
Overshadowed by persistently high inflation and the consequences of Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank begin their annual spring meetings. Central issues in the deliberations starting this Monday are likely to be combating high consumer prices, the development of the global economy, the reform plans at the World Bank, the turbulence in the banking sector, the consequences of climate change and the risk of a debt crisis in poorer countries.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the FDP and Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Niels Annen from the SPD, are among the participants from Germany. Also expected are, for example, Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric Egger.
The IMF will present its new forecast for the development of the global economy on Tuesday. IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva warned last week that the global growth prospects are likely to be below 3 percent as a result of the war in Ukraine and high inflation. In January, the IMF had already forecast global growth of just 2.9 percent for 2023 and 3.1 percent for the coming year. Georgieva now emphasized that growth is likely to be “historically weak” in the coming years.
The finance ministers and heads of the central banks of the 20 most important industrialized and emerging countries will meet on Wednesday. A round table on Ukraine is also on the agenda of the spring conference. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is also expected to be involved. The IMF has just approved a billion-euro loan program for Ukraine, which is being attacked by Russia. He specifically changed his rules to allow such programs for countries facing “extraordinarily high levels of insecurity.”