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Multilateral banks, IMF raise plans for $400b global development agenda

By Editor
27 September 2015   |   11:52 pm
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have unanimously agreed not only to adopt the Sustainable Development Agenda for the next generation, but fully committed to stepping up their support and funding beyond the $400 billion earlier reached, for its success.
World Bank Group

World Bank Group. Photo: techcabal

Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have unanimously agreed not only to adopt the Sustainable Development Agenda for the next generation, but fully committed to stepping up their support and funding beyond the $400 billion earlier reached, for its success.

Already the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has unveiled a plan to increase its support for inclusive and sustainable development by up to 50 per cent from 2017 to around $20 billion yearly and by 2020, to double its climate financing to $6 billion yearly.

The renewed drive was reached at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which ended yesterday, where world leaders have also endorsed SDGs- an ambitious agenda that aims to end poverty, promote prosperity and to protect the environment.

The MDBs are the African Development Bank (AfDB), ADB, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank Group.

“The well-being of our planet and its people are at the heart of the new goals. They point the way towards greater prosperity and equality and will ensure more robust and sustainable economic growth,” the MDBs leaders said in a statement.

The IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, who described the agreement as historic landmark, noted that the new development agenda was imperative given the interconnectedness of today’s world.

“Because in today’s interconnected world, for good or ill, cause and effect, spillovers and spillbacks travel across borders, instantly and unceasingly, irrespective of the walls that are being built.

“And at all levels: macroeconomic stability, where an economic shock in one country will affect all others; inclusion, where social transformations drive the winds of change; and the environment, where, with global warming, everyone reaps what others have done.

“The SDGs are ambitious, but achievable with determined implementation. We all have a responsibility to achieve these goals, at the country level and through our collective action at the global level. The IMF, with its 188 member countries, will play its part.”

Two months ago, at the Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa, the institutions unveiled plans to scale up their finance and support for countries seeking to achieve the development goals and vowed to examine how they could ensure a greater mobilisation of domestic resources and expanded funding from the private sector.

The World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, said that the international community showed wisdom and courage 15 years ago in adopting the Millennium Declaration, which set out eight ambitious goals to improve the lives of billions and bring the world together in closer cooperation and partnership.

“We cut poverty in half five years earlier than the declaration’s deadline, so I am confident we can achieve the great aspirations of these new global goals– particularly the first, which is to erase the scourge of extreme poverty from our planet by 2030.  We can, and must, end this terrible blot on our collective conscience.”

The newly sworn-in President of AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, said: “The African Development Bank is fully committed to the successful implementation of the SDGs. We will work with our member countries, the private sector, civil society and other partners to deliver on the SDGs for Africa. The SDGs must work- and they must work for Africa.”

The President of ADB, Takehiko Nakao, added: 
“We are committed to supporting the 2030 agenda and helping our member countries in achieving these ambitious new goals in Asia and the Pacific. We will also increase co-financing with other development partners, catalyse private sector investment, and help mobilise greater domestic resources.’’

Also, the President, EBRD, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, noted that the new goals overlapped with the core areas of the EBRD’s operations, with its strategic priorities.

“As a development bank specialised in working with the private sector, the EBRD is well placed to support the delivery of an agenda in which private firms will play a key role,” he said.

President of EIB, Werner Hoyer, noted that the adoption of the SDGs shows “our collective determination to safeguard the future of our planet.

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