- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
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- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
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- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
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- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
Revamp of World Bank and lenders needed to tackle global problems: Yellen
The World Bank and development lenders need to evolve to tackle the complex challenges that the world is facing, such as by going beyond country-based lending, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday.
Her comments, delivered at the Center for Global Development think tank, follow warnings that global recession risks are growing on the back of shocks like the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Emerging markets and developing countries are often most acutely affected both by global shocks and by spillovers from the policies of advanced countries," said Yellen.
While efforts to combat poverty have mostly been country-focused in the past, a different approach is needed in the face of problems such as climate change and pandemics, she said.
Yellen's remarks come days before policymakers gather in Washington for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
"I, along with leaders from a broad group of countries, will be calling on World Bank management at the annual meetings next week... to develop a World Bank evolution roadmap by December," she said.
The meetings come at a tough time for the global economy, which has largely controlled the virus but faces surging inflation and rising interest rates that threaten to choke off nascent recoveries.
"We welcome the discussion on capital adequacy and Secretary Yellen's leadership on the evolution of international financial institutions," said a World Bank spokesman.
He noted the conversation comes as developing countries face a severe shortage of resources, risk of global recession, capital outflows and heavy debt service burdens.
While multilateral development banks have a strong record of financing national projects like infrastructure, there is not yet a "sufficiently robust toolkit" to quickly address cross-border challenges, said Yellen.
For example, there could be moves to lower costs of financing for investments where benefits are shared broadly by the world, like in clean energy projects, the Treasury official added.
Apart from the traditional country-based lending model, Yellen called for considering expanded options, such as for development banks to support both global and regional entities.
She noted that global organizations like Covax were key to speeding up the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries.
Development banks should deploy more tools to mobilize greater private capital into their projects as well, Yellen added.
On Thursday, the Treasury also announced a new nearly $1 billion contribution to the Clean Technology Fund, a climate investment fund.
Yellen also urged for major bilateral creditors to "meaningfully participate in debt relief" to help lower- and middle-income countries, noting that China in particular has delayed providing debt treatments to borrowers in distress.
Y.Ponomarenko--CPN