WASHINGTON, USA – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) must do more to support low-income countries and fragile states, managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Tuesday at the Center for Global Development (CGD).
Speaking with Masood Ahmed, CGD president, Georgieva called for the Fund to be more representative of the global economy, with a better balance between advanced economies and the voices of emerging and developing countries. She also expressed the need to help countries build resilience to a more shock-prone world.
Georgieva said she sees two equally important tasks for the Fund:
“To ensure that we have the financial capacity to operate, and support vulnerable middle-income countries and low-income countries […]. And to bring our membership together […]. Despite all the difficulties in cooperation, we will work towards consensus on those issues on which the future of our children and grandchildren depend,” Georgieva said. She also explained the IMF’s role in its work on climate.
During a subsequent conversation with World Bank Group president Ajay Banga at an event on support for low-income countries, Georgieva shared more of the Fund’s thinking. For low-income countries to reduce vulnerabilities and achieve a sustainable and meaningful rise in income levels quickly, it will take the countries themselves to do more to build the strength of their economies, and the international community to be a reliable partner, she said.
“We see that those [countries] that are doing better are countries with strong institutions, rule of law, transparency, and less corruption, and building those strengths is something no one but the countries can take on.”
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