World Bank and IMF form advisory group on inclusive recovery

Body will be made up of experts from research institutions, government and the private sector

The World Bank's headquarters in Washington, DC. The group will set out proposals to go before the next G20 Summit in Rome in October and the COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow in November. AFP

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund set up a High-Level Advisory Group on Tuesday to advise on sustainable recovery strategies for the global economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The group will be jointly led by the World Bank's managing director for development policy, Mari Pangestu, the strategy director for the IMF's policy and review department, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, and Lord Nicholas Stern, chair of economics and government at the London School of Economics.

Its aim is "to help secure a strong recovery and set a path for green, resilient, and inclusive development over the coming decade", the two Washington-based institutions said in a joint statement.

“The poor and most vulnerable have been hit hardest by Covid-19, as well as climate change and other challenges," David Malpass, World Bank Group president, said.

The group will offer ideas both at country level and globally to foster sustainable and inclusive development and reduce poverty, he added.

“The world faces two huge crises – the pandemic, and the climate emergency – that demand radical and co-ordinated action. Through policy analysis and practical proposals, the High-Level Advisory Group will play a key role in this effort,” Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF's managing director, said.

The Covid-19 pandemic triggered the world's deepest recession since the Great Depression. The global economy contracted by 3.3 per cent last year, but is expected to rebound by 6 per cent this year on the back of the rapid vaccine rollout and the injection of about $25 trillion in fiscal and monetary stimulus by governments and central banks last year.

The HLAG, whose members include the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's chief economist Laurence Boone, the director of the IMF's research department Gita Gopinath and the Centre for Sustainable Development's senior fellow Amar Bhattacharya, among others, will set out proposals to go before the next G20 Summit in Rome in October and the COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow in November.

It has also been tasked with deepening "the analyses and formulation of actions for sustained transformation in 2022", the statement said.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the World Bank Group has committed over $125 billion to help more than 100 countries battle the health, economic and social impacts of the pandemic.

The IMF has provided more than $109bn to 84 countries, 52 of which have been designated as "low income".