WB, IMF & Morocco Call for Enhanced Global Action to Build Resilience for Better Future
The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Morocco have launched a call for enhanced global action on common challenges in a bid to build resilience and expand opportunities for a better future.
In a joint statement issued Wednesday in Marrakesh which is hosting the 2023 Annual Meetings of the WB & IMF, the WB President Ajay Banga, IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva, Moroccan Minister of Economy & Finance Nadia Fettah Alaoui and Bank Al Maghrib Governor Abdellatif Jouahri said: “we need to stand together, united in the goal of protecting our future shared prosperity and ending extreme poverty.”
They laid out their vision for global cooperation to help harness the power of multilateralism to the benefit of all, leaving no country behind by supporting inclusive & sustainable growth, transformational reforms and enhancing international monetary system.
They stressed the importance of promoting growth-driven structural reforms aimed at strengthening governance, the rule of law, trade, and the business environment to attract new investment and generate jobs.
They called for expanding financing sources by boosting domestic resource mobilization, up-scaling the provision and effective use of concessional resources, leveraging donor resources, fostering foreign direct investment, and catalyzing private sector finance, while improving public expenditure efficiency.
The joint statement urged the international community to support fragile and conflict-affected states and jointly addressing global sources of food and energy insecurity, while pursuing sound macroeconomic policies and strengthening institutional capacity with support from international organizations.
The document recommends the strengthening of external & domestic debt, global crisis preparedness and mitigation by increasing the resilience of supply chains, enhancing pandemic preparedness, and undertaking timely macroeconomic adjustments, building adaptive social protection, and reinforcing the Global Financial Safety Net.
To address climate risk, the joint statement called for developing capacities to manage and implement cost-effective strategies for disaster risk reduction, enhancing climate and disaster shock resilient infrastructure, preserving biodiversity, and promoting sustainable land and water management practices.
In their joint statement, the WB, IMF and Morocco called for accelerating the green transition on the basis of the principles of the Paris Agreement, while ensuring energy security throughout the transition.
They also called for the creation of modern, efficient domestic and cross-border payment systems, saying internationally harmonized rules and regulations must also be developed in tandem on crypto assets, data protection, cyber security, and artificial intelligence.
They likewise stressed the need to foster health systems and preparedness through collaborative work towards enhancing global health security by improving universal health coverage, strengthening health systems, and establishing global mechanisms to ensure equitable access to vaccines and medications.
They put emphasis on promoting equitable and quality education to advance global efforts toward inclusive and equitable quality education, broadening access to early childhood, while building gender equality for women’s empowerment.
The joint statement called for strengthening the multilateral trading system to support global economic cooperation and growth by ensuring that it is rules-based, non-discriminatory, fair, open, inclusive, sustainable, and transparent with effective dispute resolution mechanisms.
