Page 5 - World Bank

Sense of urgency required to tackle climate crises, poverty: WB chief Banga

World Bank chief Ajay Banga on Thursday said a sense of urgency can be the only saviour for the world faced with a set of intertwined crises, including that of climate and poverty. "What we have is an existential climate crisis," the World Bank President said here during a session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. "We cannot think about eradicating poverty without caring about climate. We cannot think about eradicating poverty without caring about healthcare. We cannot think about eradicating poverty without caring about food insecurity and fragility," he said. This is the reality and "we have a set of intertwined crises," Banga said and stressed that a "sense of urgency is our only saviour". According to him, 45 per cent of the World Bank financing will go towards climate efforts. In addition, the Bank has promised to connect 100 million people in Africa to renewable power by 2030, address a misalignment in funding to reduce methane emissions, help small nations absorb

Private capital expenditure to pick up in coming years: MPC member Varma

RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Jayanth R Varma has said that capacity utilization has been slowly increasing and private capital expenditure would pick up in the coming years. Varma further noted that in the last couple of years, the government has shouldered the burden of investment, while private capital expenditure has been muted. "At the same time, capacity utilization has been slowly creeping up and it is approaching levels that prompt the private sector to undertake capital expenditure at least in some sectors," he told PTI. Moreover, Varma, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad said large public sector infrastructure investment of the recent years has the potential to crowd-in private sector investments. "On the whole, I am hopeful that private capital expenditure would pick-up in the coming years, and pick-up the baton from the public sector," he said. Asked whether India can escape the middle income trap, Varma said it is imperative that

Investing for growth

Private-sector investment revival is crucial

Global economy will slow for a third straight year in 2024: World Bank

Hobbled by high interest rates, persistent inflation, slumping trade and a diminished China, the global economy will slow for a third consecutive year in 2024. That is the picture sketched by the World Bank, which forecast Tuesday that the world economy will expand just 2.4 per cent this year. That would be down from 2.6 per cent growth in 2023, 3 per cent in 2022 and a galloping 6.2 per cent in 2021, which reflected the robust recovery from the pandemic recession of 2020. Heightened global tensions, arising particularly from Israel's war with Hamas and the conflict in Ukraine, pose the risk of even weaker growth. And World Bank officials express worry that deeply indebted poor countries cannot afford to make necessary investments to fight climate change and poverty. Near-term growth will remain weak, leaving many developing countries especially the poorest stuck in a trap: with paralyzing levels of debt and tenuous access to food for nearly one out of every three people," Indermi

World Bank to give Rs 2,328 cr for project to divert flood water: Fadnavis

The World Bank has approved financial assistance of Rs 2,328 crore to develop infrastructure to divert flood water from western Maharashtra to Marathwada, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday. The state government will contribute Rs 998 crore for the plan, he added. "The World Bank has approved financial assistance of Rs 2,328 crore for the project that will help in diverting flood water from western Maharashtra to Marathwada, which faces water scarcity," he said in a statement. Sangli and Kolhapur districts had witnessed flooding in September 2018, and a World Bank team that visited these areas at the time decided to provide aid for the water diversion project, Fadnavis said.

India, China follow contrasting external lending strategies: World Bank

Escalating debt vulnerabilities in many low or middle-income countries and overlapping crises are forcing an increasing number of countries to seek debt restructuring from external creditors

India tops remittances table with $125 bn inflows: World Bank report

Inflation declining and strong labour markets in high-income source countries boosted transfers by highly skilled Indians, it says

India's inward remittances in 2023 rise 12.3% to $125 billion: World Bank

India continues to be the highest recipient of remittances globally, followed by Mexico ($67 billion) and China ($50 billion)

Developing countries spent record $443.5 bn to service public debts in 2022

In its latest International Debt Report, the bank said the debt-service payments - including principal and interest - rose 5% to a record $443.5 billion from a year earlier

Cash-strapped Pakistan secures $655 million financing package from ADB

Cash-strapped Pakistan has secured a USD 655 million financing package, including an expensive USD 300 million loan at market rates, from the Asian Development Bank, days after Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar declared the country's public debt as unsustainable. The ADB approved a financing package for Pakistan under three different loans. Among other components, these include USD 300 million for improving domestic resource mobilisation; USD 275 million for rehabilitating schools damaged by the devastating August 2022 floods; and USD 80 million for enhancing agricultural productivity to improve food security, according to an announcement by the ADB on Wednesday. The announcement by the Manila-based lending agency came as the World Bank's Debt Management and Sustainability Mission met with Finance Minister AKhtar to review the debt management of the country, reported the Express Tribune newspaper. Last week, Dr Akhtar announced that Pakistan's debt burden has become unsustainable --

Multilateral Development Banks unlock over $180 bn climate finance at COP28

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced at COP28 that it will triple its climate lending to US$150 billion over the next decade

World Bank Chief Banga hails COP28 momentum as climate pledges mount

World leaders spent the first three days at the climate conference unveiling a string of announcements from cutting methane emissions to ramping up the flow of money to poorer countries

World Bank global indicators are subjective, says CEA V Nageswaran

As of 2022, India had a percentile rank of 63.2 in governance effectiveness, meaning it was equal to or better than 63.2 percent of countries

Half of Afghanistan's population lives below poverty line: World Bank

World Bank Senior Economist Silvia Redaelli said: "We see that in terms of monetary poverty, we still have half of the population that in 2023 is consuming below the poverty line."

A grainy picture: Tough to measure Covid's impact on poverty without data

The impact of the pandemic on pov­erty and inequality in India has been a contested issue in the absence of govern­ment data

The stunning resilience of emerging markets

Prudent economic policies and central bank independence have allowed them to defy analysts' expectations of a debt spiral

Auditing the Blue Economy: An oceanic responsibility

In a world where environmental concerns and sustainability have taken centre stage, the concept of the Blue Economy emerges as a captivating notion

Global rice prices are not expected to cool down before 2025: World Bank

The Centre has already clamped down on the export of rice from India and imposed hefty import duties on some other variants, thus wiping off almost 40 per cent of supplies from the world rice markets

Commodity outlook would darken if West Asia conflict escalates: World Bank

Report provides a preliminary assessment of the potential near-term implications of the conflict for commodity markets. It finds that the effects should be limited if the conflict doesn't widen

World Bank approves $1 billion loan to help South Africa's energy sector

The World Bank approved a $1 billion loan for South Africa on Wednesday to help it address an energy crisis that has peaked this year with the country's worst electricity blackouts. The energy problem has forced the country to lean on its highly polluting coal-fired power stations. South Africa has experienced scheduled, rolling blackouts for months because of problems generating enough electricity for its 62 million people. The state-run power utility, Eskom, generates approximately 80% of the country's electricity through its coal stations, but they have failed to meet demand due to mismanagement, corruption and regular breakdowns. South Africa's commitment to its climate change targets are in danger of being affected in the short term, with President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing in April that it may delay shutting down some of its coal stations because of the electricity supply problems. The loan endorses a significant and strategic response to South Africa's ongoing energy crisis,