20 April 2013: The 87th meeting of the Development Committee, which advises the Board of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), concluded with a call to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity in an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable manner, with special attention to climate change.
At the meeting, which convened in Washington DC, US, on 20 April 2013, in the context of the two institution’s annual Spring Meeting, the Boards of Governors of the World Bank and the IMF, along with member country officials and high-level civil servants focused on the current international monetary issues and the post-2015 agenda.
In the Special Communiqué released at the conclusion of the meeting, the World Bank Group (WBG) indicates that ending poverty remains its “overarching mission,” and welcomes the paper titled “A Common Vision for the World Bank Group.” The Committee noted that reducing the percentage of people living on less than US$1.25 a day to 3% by 2030 will require strong growth across the developing world, and translation of growth into poverty reduction to an extent not seen before in many low income countries.
The Communiqué further indicates that the Development Committee, inter alia: calls on the WBG to remain committed to all clients, but to “pay special attention to countries and regions with the highest incidence of poverty and to Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations (FCS);” endorses the WBG goal to promote shared prosperity; welcomes the contribution of the private sector to growth and job creation; and encourages the Group and IMF to support countries that want to catalyze low-carbon growth and climate resilience in cities, scale up efforts towards climate-smart agriculture, and rationalize and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption.
The Development Committee also supports the integration of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation into the WBG’s work, and calls for a focus on urban management, as well as on the continued deterioration of living conditions in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
The next meeting of the Development Committee will take place on 12 October 2013. [IMF/World Bank Final Communiqué] [World Bank Press Release] [Website of IMF-WBG Spring Meetings] [OECD Statement to Meeting]