EBRD’s Post

There were apparently 19,000 registered attendees at the World Bank/IMF Annual Meeting in Bangkok last week, and that wasn’t hard to believe inside the conference centre. The advantage of having so many leaders from the worlds of finance, business and government in one place is obvious – in one day you have more useful and productive discussions than you would manage over many months of travel. And for me, it’s another reminder of the value of face-to-face interactions, building stronger relationships and enabling spontaneity. So what was the conversation about? As you would expect, the resilience of the world economy, and the risks ahead – especially those connected to geopolitics and ongoing conflict, and how all of this relates to public finances and bond market volatility. AI was also very much at the forefront, both as an opportunity for our economies, but also as a threat, particularly for cyber security. We are focussed on both these aspects within the EBRD. Two of the big themes for the World Bank were around financing for SMEs and how to bring more private investments in emerging and developing markets. We talked with Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group, about how together we can increase the scale of this mobilisation. With Dr Muhammud Al Jasser, President of the Islamic Development Bank, we also talked about doing more projects, notably in energy and water. Discussing investments and policy reforms to improve growth and economic resilience was at the centre of the many conversations I had with ministers of our countries of operations. Trade diversification is an opportunity that need to be supported by trade finance and connectivity. That was part of my conversation with the head of the WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. And I’ve already written about Ukraine – supporting its economy remains our biggest priority right now, and everyone in Bangkok understood clearly what it needs to get through a very tough winter ahead. With IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva we exchanged views on the Fund’s programme in Ukraine and the need for additional financing. In the G7 Finance Ministers meeting, chaired by France, we talked about cooperation needed to deal with the radiation threat from the damaged Chornobyl nuclear safety shelter, which threatens us all. Collaboration remains at the heart of what we do as a multilateral development bank. My week finished with a brief visit to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, for the Heads of MDB group of 10. We are fully committed to increasing our cooperation, with a belief that working together can greatly amplify our impact. We intend to do more to help people understand the difference we make, both as individual institutions and together. Thanks to our host, President Masato Kanda and to my fellow Presidents Nadia Calviño, Ilan Goldfajn, Zou Jiayi, Dr Sidi Ould Tah, and Carlo Monticelli, along with VP Rami M S Ahmad of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).