Growth driven primarily by US, China, India: World Bank chief

Washington, April 8

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There is now a faster global growth driven primarily by the US, China and India, World Bank president David Malpass has said even as he expressed concern over the growing inequality due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He said here was also the concern of inequality in terms of vaccinations and median income that was not going up very fast for some countries.

Working on easing debt situations

• World Bank president David Malpass has said the World Bank and the IMF are working closely together to have successful implementation of the G20’s Common Framework to deal with unsustainable debt situations.
• There is inequality in terms of the bankruptcy process, which was not available to sovereign countries, so the poor countries do not have a way out of these very heavy debt burdens, he says.
• There’s the interest rate difference, where poor countries face much higher interest rates and they haven’t gone down the way global interest rates have done.

“But there’s also the concern that there’s inequality. Inequality in terms of vaccinations, in terms of median income that’s not going up very fast for some of the countries and may even be going down. There’s the interest rate difference, where poor countries face much higher interest rates and they haven’t gone down the way global interest rates have done,” he said.

Slow vaccination concerning

The slowness in the vaccine roll-out, particularly in Europe, is concerning. I hope for a faster roll-out. And, we can look to the regulatory agencies to work smoothly towards their approvals so that more vaccines can be approved. —David Malpass, World Bank President

“There’s a good news that there is faster global growth driven primarily by the US, China and India, having strong rebounds,” Malpass said at the start of the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The annual spring meeting, which is being held virtually, focuses on vaccines, climate change, debt and recovery. Malpass said there was inequality in terms of the bankruptcy process, which was not available to sovereign countries. — PTI