Increase IDA Funding to $100m – Ofori Atta to IMF, World Bank Dev’t C’ttee

Ken Ofori Atta, Minister for Finance, has called on the Bretton Woods Institutions to increase their next round of funding (IDA19) to a USD 100 million to provide adequate funding to address current world economic challenges.

“About 85 million has been proposed, however, as we hold our 100th Plenary today, we should consider raising it to a 100 million to mark the occasion”, he said.

The increase will help developing countries to tackle poverty and current development challenges including climate change, job creation, education, digitisation and inclusive growth across the world.

Ken Ofori Atta said these when he chaired the 100th meeting of the Development Committee of the IMF/World Bank as part of the 2019 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington DC.

The International Development Assistance (IDA) is the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries. Overseen by 173 shareholder nations, IDA aims to reduce poverty by providing loans (called “credits”) and grants for programmes that boost economic growth, reduce inequalities, and improve people’s living conditions. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 76 poorest countries and is the single largest source of donor funds for basic social services in these countries. IDA lends money on concessional terms.

The Minister congratulated and welcomed the World Bank President David Malpass and Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the IMF.

In their opening statements, both the President of the Bank and the MD of the Fund pledged their organisations continued support to provide the needed funding and technical support to make the world a better place for all.

Madam Kristalina Georgieva said the IMF will review their lending framework for low income and fragile states, increase technical assistance to support the attainment of the SDGs as well as assist governments to develop efficient, effective and robust tax administrations.

David Malpass, the World Bank President on his part said the Bank will focus on ensuring global value chain is impactful, implement programmes to ensure no one is left behind in education, and engage the private sector to grow and create jobs.

In a communique issued after the plenary, they called on the two institutions to continue to work with developing countries towards attaining inclusive and sustain growth, increase resilience to shocks and boost domestic revenues.

They also asked the two institutions to address the increase in debt vulnerabilities in emerging and low income economies and promote sustainable and transparent borrowing and lending practices.

“We ask the Bank Group and the IMF to promote effective regulatory and operational measures for fostering tax transparency and combating illegal tax avoidance, money laundering, illicit financial flows and other challenges to the integrity of the international financial systems, including tackling corruption”.

The Development Committee (DC) established in 1974is a ministerial-level forum of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund for intergovernmental consensus-building on development issues.

The Committee has 25 members, usually Ministers of Finance or Development, and who represent the full membership of the Bank and Fund. They are appointed by each of the countries, or groups of countries, represented on the Boards of Executive Directors of the Bank and Fund.

The Chair is selected from among the Committee’s members and is assisted by an Executive Secretary who is elected by the Committee. The Current Chair is Ken Ofori Atta, Ghana’s Finance Minister.

The Committee’s mandate is to advise the Boards of Governors of the Bank and the Fund on critical development issues and on the financial resources required to promote economic development in developing countries. Over the years, the Committee has interpreted this mandate to include trade and global environmental issues in addition to traditional development matters.