The new head of the World Bank said Tuesday that growing divides between rich and poor nations risked deepening poverty in the developing world, at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in India.
Many countries are still recovering from the double blow of the coronavirus
pandemic and fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine -- which hit global fueland commodity prices.
Climate change, meanwhile, is most painfully affecting some of the poorest
countries least able to cope.
Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank, said he feared a lack of progresswas in danger of splitting the global economy, to the detriment of theworld's poorest.
"The thing that keeps me up at night is a mistrust that is quietly pullingthe Global North and South apart at a time when we need to be uniting," Bangatold the two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs inGandhinagar, Gujarat state.
"The Global South's frustration is understandable. In many ways they arepaying the price for our prosperity," said Indian-born Banga, a naturalized American citizen who took up the bank post last month after being nominatedby US President Joe Biden.
"When they should be ascendant, they're concerned promised resources will be
diverted to Ukraine's reconstruction, they feel energy rules aren't appliedevenly, constraining ambition, and they're worried the grip of poverty willpull down another generation."
The World Bank said it is working to increase its financial capability --including by raising hybrid capital from shareholders -- to spur growth andjobs, but said the future economy could not rely on expansion at the cost ofthe environment.
"The simple truth is: We cannot endure another period of emission-intensive
growth," Banga said.
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, chair and host of the get-together, launched talks on Monday by reminding leaders of theirresponsibility "to steer the global economy towards strong, sustainable,balanced and inclusive growth".
The United States says efforts to reform multilateral lenders such as theWorld Bank and other regional institutions could unlock $200 billion over thenext decade.
- Little progress on debt -
Debt restructuring deals for low-income nations have been a key focus of The
Group of 20 major economies, but officials suggest there has been littleheadway.
China, the world's second-largest economy and a major lender to severalstressed, low-income countries in Asia and Africa, has so far resisted anyone-size-fits-all debt restructuring formula, officials said.
More than half of all low-income countries are near or in debt distress,double the amount in 2015, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
Yellen on Sunday said a deal on Zambian debt had taken "too long tonegotiate", but added she hoped debt treatments for Ghana and Sri Lanka couldbe "finalised quickly".
Finance ministers from regional rivals and neighbours India and China metearly Tuesday, without commenting to reporters.
The G20 talks have also focused on multilateral development banks' reform,
cryptocurrency regulations, and easier access to financing to mitigate andadapt to the impact of climate change.
A newly agreed first step on a fairer distribution of tax revenues frommultinational firms -- reached by 138 countries last week -- is also set tobe delivered.
Multinationals, especially tech firms, are currently able to shift profitseasily to countries with low tax rates even though they carry out only asmall part of their activities there.