India’s Finance Minister highlights Global South’s role in shaping Multilateral Development Banks | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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India’s Finance Minister highlights Global South’s role in shaping Multilateral Development Banks

Posted 28 Oct 2024

2 min read

Finance Minister noted the pivotal contributions of the Global South to the foundations of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference.

  • 1944 Conference led to establishment of World Bank and International Monetary Fund

Contribution of Global South to MDBs

  • Establishment of New Institutions such as New Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank etc.
  • With economic growth, Global South Countries like India and China have increased their financial commitments to MDBs. 
  • Advocacy for Inclusivity and MDB reforms by emphasizing on embedding diverse voices in decision-making processes at MDBs. 

Need for MDB Reforms from the perspective of Global South

  • Inadequate representation: 59.1% of voting shares in IMF are held by countries representing just 13.7% of world’s population. 
  • Debt Relief Requirement: Around 79 low-and-middle income countries deemed to be in debt distress. 
  • Addressing Global Challenges: Issues like climate change, pandemic, supply chain disruptions disproportionately affect global south, requiring additional funding support.  

India’s Recommendations for MDBs

  • Promote a two-way exchange of innovations, drawing from experiences of Global South in areas like Digital Inclusion and Sustainable Energy while meeting the need of development financing to Global South.
  • Adopt a more competitive pricing model to foster broader participation, incentivise middle-income countries to borrow more and deepen development impact.
  • Adopt a strictly evidence-based and data-driven approach when preparing global indices such as the Worldwide Governance Indicators and the new B-Ready index.
  • Tags :
  • World Bank
  • Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)
  • Global South
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