Finance Secretary and current Chair of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four (G-24) Board of Governors Ralph Recto is pushing for key reforms to empower the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) to better serve developing countries.
In a statement on Wednesday, the DOF said Recto championed four key reforms during a high-level meeting of ministers and governors on Oct. 22 held at the IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The Philippines currently serves as the Chair of the G-24 Bureau for 2023-2024.
“We continue to call for a more agile and resolute IMF and World Bank. We need you to not only keep pace with the changing times but also lead with foresight and innovation,” Recto said.
“We need heightened development cooperation, scale-up support, and more responsive solutions to navigate the headwinds and foster peace, stability, and prosperity for all.”
Among the reforms championed by the Finance Chief, on behalf of the G-24 members, was the necessity for the IMF to create a new liquidity provision mechanism to further support countries with sound fundamentals in times of liquidity crises.
The WBG was also urged to set more ambitious goals for its concessional and non-concessional windows, commensurate with the challenges of achieving inclusive and sustainable development by 2030.
Recto said the Sovereign Debt Resolution Framework must also be reformed to deliver comprehensive, predictable, swift, and impactful debt relief, addressing the urgent needs of vulnerable economies.
Recto said governance and institutional reforms of the Bretton Woods System must be accelerated to increase the voice and representation of developing nations.
“Without improvements and bold actions, decades of individual and global efforts to eradicate poverty and inequality, combat climate change, and invest in growth-enhancing projects will be put to a halt, if not reversed. Thus, we are counting on this meeting to set an unprecedented multilateral cooperation and action,” Recto said.
During the meeting, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and WBG Senior Managing Director Axel van Trotsenburg shared the institutions’ programs which aim to provide wider access to concessional financing and supporting developing countries in sustaining productivity, enhancing long-term growth prospects, and increasing resilience to economic shocks.
At the end of the meeting, Recto welcomed Argentina as the next Chair of the G-24 and Pakistan as the next Second Vice-Chair and incoming Bureau member.
Formed in 1971, the G-24 helps coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues to ensure that their interests are adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters. (PNA)
