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Rethinking Debt: Financing the Future Amid Crisis

Follow the event on Twitter #Debt4Dev

(Download the event transcript .txt)

On April 7th, the World Bank invited several leading experts to explore perspectives on a new global financial architecture for debt. Speakers discussed lessons from past restructuring efforts, the private sector’s role, and the increased need for debt transparency.

Zainab Haruna of Nigeria began the conversation by explaining how government debt can affect the lives of everyday people. Angolan Finance Minister Vera Daves spoke with World Bank Group President David Malpass about how the economic fallout from COVID-19 has affected her country’s revenue and debt levels. Kevin Watkins, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children, and K.Y. Amoako, President of the African Center for Economic Transformation, described how unsustainable debt can hold back the progress of countries, diverting resources that could otherwise be used to invest in health, education, and more. Citi’s Julie Monaco and World Bank Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart both referenced the debt crises of the 1980s and 1990s—and the lessons that this challenging era can offer.

Reducing unsustainable debt requires diverse solutions and a commitment to help countries focus on building a green, resilient, inclusive economy. If you missed the discussion, watch the replay, and tell us what you think in the comments or by using #Debt4Dev on Twitter.

See the list of Speakers ▽

This event replay is available with captions in multiple languages. You can select the language of your choice in the video above OR you can use the following links to watch the event with translated audio in Arabic, French and Spanish.

Videos

Expert Answers: How is Suspending Debt Service Payments Helping the Fight against COVID-19?

Expert Answers: What Is Debt Transparency?

Is Debt Good or Bad?

Documents & Research

WBG and IMF Support for Debt Relief Under the Common Framework and Beyond

Global Waves of Debt: Causes and Consequences

Sovereign Debt Relief and its Aftermath

Blogs

Intro blog on International Debt Statistics 2021

Key to resolving COVID’s global debt crunch: transparency

Data & Tools

Debt & Fiscal Risks Toolkit

Read the transcript

00:00 [UPBEAT MUSIC]
00:29 2021 Spring Meetings day two
00:32 [LIVE: WASHINGTON, DC] and we're live once more from the World Bank group headquarters
00:34 in Washington, DC.
00:36 [SRIMATHI SRIDHAR; WORLD BANK GROUP] I'm Srimathi Sridhar and we're about two minutes away
00:39 from our headline event on debt.
00:41 But before we launch into that, here's my colleague, Paul Blake,
00:43 with a quick look at what you can expect from today's live event
00:46 and how you can get involved.
00:48 [UPBEAT MUSIC]
00:53 The World Bank group IMF meetings are virtual once more
00:57 and while our buildings are relatively empty when compared to past years,
01:00 you, connecting wherever you are,
01:02 have more opportunity than ever to take part.
01:05 For weeks we've been convening and recording in-depth conversations
01:09 with some of the world's leading experts
01:11 on the most urgent development issues of our time.
01:15 Now for these Spring Meetings, we're proud to bring you four events
01:19 that will play out over four days and cover four important themes,
01:23 economic recovery, debt, climate, and vaccines.
01:27 And while the main events are recorded,
01:29 our subject matter experts are standing by live online right now,
01:33 to answer your questions and share your comments.
01:37 Hi I'm Nish Mescher, as each event plays
01:39 my colleagues and I will be answering your questions
01:42 in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic in the live chat at live.worldbank.org.
01:47 And while you're here, please vote in our poll.
01:49 There will be a new question every day.
01:51 And after each event, we'll be back here live
01:54 from our headquarters in Washington, DC.
01:56 And on this socially distant set,
01:58 we'll be putting some of the most popular questions that have come in online
02:02 to senior World Bank Group leaders and experts.
02:05 So what are you waiting for?
02:06 Find all the details and share your perspective, live.worldbank.org.
02:15 [JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #DEBT4DEV] And to have your say in today's event, use the hashtag "debt4dev."
02:19 Now I'll be back here in about an hour's time
02:21 for a live discussion with World Bank Group president David Malpass,
02:24 featuring your questions.
02:25 And I'll also share the results of today's poll and much more.
02:28 I do hope you'll stick around for that.
02:30 [MOMENTS AWAY: RETHINKING DEBT: FINANCING THE FUTURE AMID CRISIS] But now let's jump into today's program,
02:32 Rethinking Debt: Financing the Future Amid Crisis
02:36 hosted by the World Bank Group's Paul Blake.
02:38 [UPBEAT MUSIC]
02:40 [SPRING MEETINGS 2021 VIRTUAL WORLD BANK GROUP INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND]
02:45 [MOUNTING DEBT]
02:48 [RISK TO RECOVERY]
02:52 [NEW SOLUTIONS]
02:58 [RETHINKING DEBT: FINANCING THE FUTURE AMID CRISIS]
03:06 [PAUL BLAKE; WORLD BANK GROUP] Hello everyone, welcome to Washington, DC.
03:09 And welcome to the second day of our Spring Meetings in 2021.
03:12 I'm Paul Blake coming to you from the atrium
03:14 of the World Bank Group headquarters.
03:16 And today the spotlight is on how we can help developing countries
03:20 handle debt financing.
03:22 Now, one year in, COVID-19 has aggravated debt distress
03:25 in the poorest countries,
03:26 and that could hurt their ability to finance their future.
03:29 Reducing debt would allow countries
03:31 to focus resources where they're really needed,
03:33 on building a green, resilient, inclusive recovery.
03:37 So what's the best way to do this?
03:38 And how can governments finance development
03:40 without sinking deeper into debt?
03:42 And what can we learn from the past?
03:44 Now over the next hour, we'll be joined by some top level guests
03:47 and hear from people around the world directly affected by these issues.
03:52 [UPBEAT MUSIC]
03:53 [VIRTUAL SPRING MEETINGS 2021 COMING UP]
03:56 [WHY UNSUSTAINABLE DEBT MATTERS, ZAINAB HARUNA; ONE YOUNG WORLD AMBASSADOR]
04:01 [RETHINKING DEBT: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH]
04:07 [VERA DAVES DE SOUSA; FINANCE MINISTER, REPUBLIC OF ANGOLA]
04:12 [RETHINKING DEBT: THE PRIVATE SECTOR PERSPECTIVE]
04:15 [JULIE MONACO; MANAGING DIRECTOR, CITI]
04:18 [RETHINKING DEBT: THE IMPACT ON FUTURE GENERATIONS]
04:23 [KEVIN WATKINS; CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SAVE THE CHILDREN]
04:30 [TOWARD EFFICIENT DEBT REDUCTION]
04:32 [K.Y. AMOAKO; PRESIDENT, AFRICAN CENTER FOR ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION]
04:35 [CARMEN REINHART; CHIEF ECONOMIST, WORLD BANK GROUP]
04:39 Now before we dive in,
04:40 a reminder that there are lots of ways for you to get involved in this event.
04:44 We're streaming in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic
04:47 [LIVE.WORLDBANK.ORG] on World Bank live and across our social media channels.
04:50 World bank live is also where you'll find our experts
04:53 poised to answer your questions in the live chat.
04:55 And you can also upvote your favorite questions.
04:58 We'll be putting some of those
04:59 to the president of the World Bank Group, David Malpass,
05:01 straight after this event.
05:03 [#DEBT4DEV] So share your comments at any time using the hashtag "debt4dev."
05:07 Before our first discussion, let's take a look at how government debt
05:10 can affect the lives of everyday people for better or for worse.
05:14 Here to explain is One Young World ambassador, Zainab Haruna.
05:17 She's the founder of Decipher Solutions, a youth led social enterprise
05:21 in her home country of Nigeria.
05:26 [ZAINAB HARUNA; ONE YOUNG WORLD AMBASSADOR, FOUNDER, DECIPHER SOLUTIONS] When you or I need to buy a house,
05:28 you might apply for a loan,
05:30 Governments do the same and borrow money from different lenders
05:34 to build roads, schools, and hospitals.
05:37 It adds up to an enormous amount of money,
05:40 but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
05:43 How countries invest and handle their debts
05:46 can determine whether their people thrive or languish.
05:50 Let's look at why that is.
05:53 Meet Emma, a young girl who lives in a rural village.
05:57 Her country is not rich, but the government is investing in its people.
06:02 Her school has got a new computers and hired skill teachers.
06:06 Emma likes coding and discovers her talents for programming games and websites.
06:11 She wins a scholarship and goes to college.
06:14 After the degree in computer science, she gets a loan and starts a business.
06:20 Her company thrives and employs dozens of people.
06:24 What made it possible for Emma to succeed?
06:28 Every step of the way the government invested in the future.
06:32 It supported Emma and others like her with a robust education budget
06:37 that paid for her teachers, technology, and scholarships.
06:41 The country had to borrow from different lenders, but the investment paid off.
06:46 It led to growth, jobs, and prosperity for its people, like Emma.
06:52 It's when a country is burdened with unsustainable levels of debt
06:56 that problems begin.
06:58 Developing countries had a record $55 trillion in debts
07:03 even before COVID-19 hit.
07:05 That sustainability is a growing concern as countries respond to the pandemic,
07:11 struggling with urgent financing needs.
07:13 Now imagine Emma's life again.
07:17 Her country borrows to fund an ambitious agenda,
07:21 taking out loans from private predators and all of us who are eager to lend.
07:25 But interest rates are high
07:27 and the amounts and terms of the loans are not transparent.
07:32 This kicks off a cycle of mounting bills
07:35 with less money to spend on projects, including education.
07:40 Then the pandemic derails the budget.
07:43 Because the country now has a high debt burden,
07:46 norms for regular citizens also come with higher interest rates.
07:50 Emma's school never gets the extra investment in teachers and computers
07:54 and she never learns to code.
07:57 Without a scholarship, she misses the opportunity to attend college.
08:01 She can't take out a loan and never starts a business.
08:04 Emma and her family stay poor.
08:07 It's a story of unfulfilled potential
08:09 that's all too common in many countries around the world.
08:13 When countries can finance the future in a sustainable way
08:17 and invest in their people, everyone wins.
08:21 That's why debt matters for every single one of us.
08:27 [BISHKEK, KYRGYZ REPUBLIC] I am Julie in Bishkek Kyrgyz Republic,
08:30 and you're watching the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meetings.
08:35 Well as Zainab explained, how governments manage debt
08:38 is an issue that affects all of us well into our future.
08:41 Many developing countries were struggling with debt even before COVID-19,
08:46 but the pandemic has made a bad situation worse.
08:49 Low-income countries in particular
08:51 now face debt levels that simply aren't sustainable.
08:54 World Bank Group president David Malpass invited three important thought leaders
08:58 to share their ideas on how to better manage debt crises quickly and efficiently
09:03 to get the world back on track for resilient recovery.
09:06 For the first in this series of flagship conversations on rethinking debt
09:10 he spoke to Angolan finance minister, Vera Daves.
09:13 [RETHINKING DEBT: A CONVERSATION WITH VERA DAVES DE SOUSA]
09:18 [FINANCE MINISTER, REPUBLIC OF ANGOLA]
09:23 Thank you very much, Paul.
09:25 [DAVID MALPASS; PRESIDENT, WORLD BANK GROUP] I'm here with our first guest,
09:27 Minister Daves De Sousa, the finance minister of Angola.
09:33 Vera, very nice to see you.
09:36 Angola has gone through a reprofiling of its debt.
09:39 I wondered if you could describe the impact of debt on the people of Angola.
09:44 Why was the reprofiling important?
09:46 and some of the... how did it go?
09:48 What were some of the challenges?
09:52 [VERA DAVES DE SOUSA; FINANCE MINISTER, REPUBLIC OF ANGOLA] Thank you very much, President Malpass.
09:55 Thank you, David, for this opportunity for being here
09:57 and to share with you and with audience our experience.
10:05 Yes, we were suffering the consequences of the pandemic.
10:13 Of course, we were coming from a starting point that was not easy.
10:18 We were dealing with the recessions for so many years
10:22 and the pandemics just make it worse for the Angolan economy.
10:27 And, as you know, highly dependent on oil,
10:31 so anything that affects the oil sector hits us very, very hard,
10:39 and that reflects on our stock off the debts
10:45 because it reflects on the different indicators.
10:49 The growth, decrease even more our international reserves,
10:56 decrease even more with impact on the exchange rate
11:01 and impact on the debt that is linked to the exchange rate.
11:07 So a set of events put us on a very stressful situation
11:13 that required from our side to work on different fronts
11:22 on the revenue side, on the expenditure side, but also on the debt side.
11:27 We got important assistance from institutions as World Bank and IMF.
11:35 The G20, the DSSI initiative was very useful,
11:40 but also we talk with our main creditors
11:44 to find a solution that enables us to have more breathing space
11:49 on the medium term and to release these financial resources
11:54 to address the social needs on health and on financial support to the families.
12:03 As you know, with your support,
12:06 we had implemented a program to provide financial assistance
12:11 to the families that are more vulnerable.
12:14 So everything that gives us breathing space, that gives us more financing space
12:21 to address the social needs of our population,
12:24 we are doing, and we are doing with your help.
12:30 Thank you, and so the stock of external debt
12:34 went up from some $33 billion to over $50 billion, so it's a sizeable amount.
12:40 I wonder about the interest rate on that and what will happen.
12:44 So you're having some temporary relief now.
12:48 Does that run out and what will be the consequences
12:51 or what's the interest rate that you expect over the coming decade?
12:57 Yes, we can look at the external position and the overall picture of the debt.
13:08 Regarding the external position, we've increased almost $18 billion since 2015.
13:15 But if we look to the, all the debt, we will see that from 2017 to 2020,
13:25 we see a decrease from 88 billion to 68.8 billion.
13:32 So we still have challenges to manage, but we think we are on the right path,
13:40 especially because we are seeing since 2018
13:44 the gross financing needs also decreasing.
13:47 We are being able to pay more expenditures with our tax collection.
13:51 That is good news since 2018, 60% of...
13:57 we see 60% of reductions on our gross financial needs.
14:04 So I think we are on the right track, we did well expanding the tax base.
14:09 We need to keep working on improving the quality of expenditure.
14:15 We need to keep working on building the confidence
14:19 on the macroeconomic indicators, on the commitment of the government,
14:26 with the reforms to make sure
14:30 that the perception of risk of the country decreases.
14:36 That it's important also to decrease the interest rates.
14:40 And we are also intending to continue negotiating with our multilateral partners
14:48 to give privilege on concessional loans,
14:53 to address the financial needs that we still need to address.
14:59 But we really believe that...
15:04 to deal with all these challenges in a sustainable way,
15:11 is to make sure that we diversify our economy,
15:15 that we break our dependency on oil, that we grow in a inclusive manner
15:22 to make sure that we see more jobs coming, we see more tax collection coming,
15:28 and we also increase our ability
15:32 to ask less financing lines even in concessional terms,
15:38 that we are able to collect more money to fund our activities.
15:44 And if that happened, the interest rates we will decrease,
15:48 so that's a medium-term goal, but we need to keep working on that
15:54 to make sure that in the short term with solutions like the common framework
15:59 that will be very useful.
16:03 We can deal with this situation in the short term
16:07 and in the medium term with the economy growing,
16:10 we can be able to get access to more funds
16:15 without increasing our stock, the debt stock.
16:22 Very interesting.
16:24 What a big part of your debt stock is collateralized oil financing.
16:31 But I understood you to say, as you diversify the Angolan economy,
16:36 I imagine it will be important...
16:39 How you can have commercial bank financing for businesses
16:43 via the shorter-term kinds of financing?
16:47 How is that going, your relations with commercial banks?
16:51 Are they staying engaged or is that a challenge as well?
17:01 We feel that they still engage.
17:05 We often receive a lot of proposals to finance specific projects.
17:12 It's our initiative to say come down.
17:18 We want to prioritize,
17:24 to give more importance to the private sector to the direct investment.
17:29 And we want to take off our foot from the accelerator regarding financial lines.
17:36 So yes, we feel that the commercial banks
17:38 are still interested to give financing to Angola,
17:44 but Angola wants to move on with a strategy
17:48 of combining getting funds from the private sector
17:54 to engage with us and participate with us
17:59 on the grow, on exploring the opportunities that we have in our country,
18:05 and to find funds through concessional terms
18:12 that sometimes are not acceptable to commercial banks.
18:17 So it's a process that in somehow it's painful
18:24 because it's a different mindset and a different strategy
18:31 that some of our partners start understanding,
18:39 but at the beginning it was not easy to negotiate on those terms,
18:45 but we still committed with that.
18:47 We still committed with the private investment.
18:49 We still committed with getting financing on concessional terms,
18:53 and we are resisting to sign contracts on commercial terms
19:01 that we understand will add stress to our debt situation.
19:09 I understand.
19:10 And so these are very challenging times for countries because of the pandemic,
19:15 because of the slowdown in the global economy
19:17 or worse, the deep recession for many countries.
19:20 And then the challenge of rebuilding into the future
19:24 in ways that will make it all sustainable.
19:27 So I want to really thank you for joining today
19:32 and good luck with all of the challenges facing Angola.
19:36 Thank you, Vera.
19:40 A big thank you to David and Minister Vera Daves for our first discussion.
19:44 We've got lots more great speakers lined up,
19:47 but now here's another chance for you to get involved.
19:50 We're asking you to vote in our special poll,
19:52 and we want to get a sense of how you're responding to the pandemic.
19:55 So our question is, following the COVID-19 crisis,
19:59 what is your biggest financial priority?
20:01 Is it A, to save for the future
20:04 or B, make wise investments?
20:07 Or is your priority to C, take out a loan,
20:10 or lastly, will you be focusing on D, paying off debts.
20:15 Now let's go through that one more time.
20:16 Following the COVID-19 crisis, what is your biggest financial priority?
20:21 Is it A, to save for the future?
20:24 B, make wise investments?
20:26 Is your priority to C, take out a loan,
20:30 or lastly, will you be focusing on D, paying off debts?
20:34 You can cast your vote at live.worldbank.org.
20:38 And my colleague, Sri Sridhar, and I
20:39 will be revealing the results of the poll live
20:42 at the end of this program.
20:43 Now, as we heard earlier from Angola,
20:45 governments today are grappling with how to finance their future development
20:49 while also supporting their economies through the current crisis.
20:52 Everyday citizens face similar challenges.
20:55 We wanted to hear from you.
20:56 How are you financing your future?
20:59 How does your government's debt
21:00 affect your ability to achieve your financial goals?
21:03 Young leaders and entrepreneurs from all over the world,
21:06 sent us videos sharing their thoughts.
21:08 Let's take a moment to hear what they have to say.
21:13 [RONIC NGAMBWE; STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON, USA] If I could finance my future,
21:14 [D.R. CONGO] I would pursue a graduate degree and invest in a home.
21:18 [VIKTOR MITEVSKI; CO-FOUNDER, ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS (ZMA)] If I could finance my future, I would keep on investing in my own business.
21:23 [ANOKA PRIMROSE ABEYRATHNE; SUSTAINABILITY SPECIALIST] I would be supporting more women entrepreneurs
21:26 [ONE YOUNG WORLD AMBASSADOR, SRI LANKA] through my extended business to empower themselves.
21:30 [EGSHIGLEN ERDENEBAT; PROPERTY MANAGER, MONGOLIA] I will be able to open my business
21:32 which will provide my family a better lifestyle and income.
21:36 [KHERLENTUYA KHUKHUU; HR SPECIALIST, MONGOLIA] I would travel as many places around the world.
21:39 [SANTIAGO CRESPO; ENTREPRENEUR, ARGENTINA] I would expand my business to create new jobs for others.
21:43 [AMY MELKI; RESEARCH ANALYST, LEBANON] I would have peace of mind
21:44 in overcoming the current Lebanese economic crisis.
21:47 [JASON PAREJA JAUREGUI; ENGINEER AND ACTIVIST, ONE YOUNG WORLD AMBASSADOR] I would get a student loan with a low interest rate
21:50 [PERU] in order to afford my MBA studies.
21:53 [EKIN KORKMAZ; BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND SALES SPECIALIST, BEAM TECH COMPANY] Right now, my biggest financial goal is to save more.
21:55 [SERGIO DAVID SILVA GUTIÉRREZ; IMPACT ENTREPRENEURSHIP ADVOCATE, COLOMBIA] It's to pay off my student loans.
21:58 [JUBILANTÉ CUTTING; FOUNDER, DIGITIAL MEDIA ADVOCATE, GUYANA] To buy a home, a car, to save more and invest more.
22:06 Now in his first interview,
22:07 President Malpass heard about the challenges facing Angola
22:10 as it battles with the pandemic,
22:12 while also dealing with a very heavy debt burden.
22:15 For his second conversation, he wanted to hear from the private sector
22:19 and how it's responding to this challenge.
22:21 Julie Monaco is the managing director of CITI.
22:23 [RETHINKING DEBT: A CONVERSATION WITH JULIE MONACO; MANAGING DIRECTOR, CITI]
22:33 Hi, I'm here with Julie Monaco, a managing director of CITI bank.
22:37 She has a wealth of experience, decades in the field of international finance.
22:44 And I wanted to really explore and understand better CITI's interaction
22:49 as we explore the overall debt crisis.
22:53 [WASHINGTON, DC, USA; MARYLAND, USA] So, Julie, I know you're an advisor to sovereigns
22:57 or that's one of your roles.
22:59 I wonder if you could go through the various roles
23:01 or connections that CITI bank as a whole has with developing countries
23:06 and especially with the poorest countries.
23:09 [JULIE MONACO; MANAGING DIRECTOR, CITI] So David, we at CITI are the largest provider
23:13 of debt underwriting for the EM sovereigns around the world.
23:16 That is an area of great expertise and leadership from CITI for many decades.
23:23 So we have tons of experience in working with sovereigns through restructurings.
23:27 We have a sovereign rating advisory and a sovereign debt advisory team
23:31 that gets involved with sovereigns that are facing debt distress.
23:35 And we will work and we have had many, many years...
23:38 My team, I should say, has, and the collective CITI team,
23:41 has many years of experience of working in parallel
23:44 with the IMF and with a sovereign and negotiating with private creditors.
23:49 Most recently, we were in that position with the Ecuador restructuring.
23:53 So as it relates to commercial bank lending, as you know,
23:57 there is not a lot of traditional commercial bank lending
24:01 from organizations like CITI or our peer institutions
24:05 into the emerging market sovereigns.
24:07 That is because of what happened in the '80s and '90s.
24:10 Most of the commercial lending that would go...
24:13 commercial bank lending that would happen with sovereigns
24:16 is related to projects.
24:18 And again, it's also tied to EIF type funds financing,
24:23 where there is high alignment with the official community.
24:25 Our lending portfolio into sovereigns
24:28 is mostly focused on FX lines, trade lines,
24:33 as well as EAF, which is export agency finance-backed lending
24:39 from the official community, where the private sector and the public sector
24:43 are very much aligned in that type of lending.
24:46 So that is very different.
24:47 And I think that the bank lending is very small
24:51 compared to the overall official lending as well as the bonds market.
24:57 That was great, and...
24:59 People are very interested in the details of that.
25:02 So as you think about Ecuador, it faced different types of debt
25:05 and they were able to reprofile or restructure some parts of that debt.
25:13 How does the change in contracts affect the country's ability
25:19 or the outcome of those discussions?
25:23 For example, in terms of either collateral or in terms of non-disclosure clause,
25:28 what's changed over recent years in that regard?
25:31 The role that CITI played in Ecuador...
25:34 we were an advisor along with an independent advisor.
25:38 We negotiated with the official creditors
25:42 and we worked in parallel with the IMF and we worked with the bond holders.
25:47 And I think that, I think that situation...
25:52 I think Ecuador is a perfect example that the current process can work.
25:57 And that when you look at a situation
26:01 where the bond holders are willing to take a haircut, as they did.
26:06 They are willing to do that when there is a level of transparency,
26:10 when there is goodwill and the ability to show there are going to be changes
26:16 and reforms and they get confidence in the data
26:19 on how the country is going to move forward.
26:21 I think we've seen time and time again, David,
26:23 that there has been 17 Paris Club restructurings since 2010.
26:28 Twelve of those involved mandatory inclusion of bond holders
26:33 and bond holders are very willing to come to the table
26:37 and restructure debt as long as there is that...
26:41 One is that because of the way
26:42 the more and more uptake of collective action clauses
26:47 has made it easier to make those structurings happen on the bond side.
26:51 Also, what you have is just an expectation.
26:55 I think that it's understood in the bond markets
26:58 that this type of restructuring is part of this asset class in the EM.
27:03 And so I think that there's a level of acceptance there.
27:05 But it also requires goodwill around how that restructuring gets done.
27:10 It's different.
27:12 The mechanism for restructuring the commercial bank debt
27:16 is very different than the bond debt.
27:19 And, as you know, in Ecuador, we restructured Ecuador.
27:23 The bond holders took a cut,
27:24 but nobody touched the official debt under that restructuring.
27:27 And I actually, in preparation to talking to you about the benefits
27:32 of the G20 common framework,
27:34 I actually asked my team would that framework have changed anything
27:39 about how we approached the restructuring in Ecuador?
27:42 And the answer I got back was that potentially the G20 framework,
27:48 because you have all the official creditors at the table
27:52 and key official creditors that are not under the table
27:54 under the Paris club like China,
27:56 that potentially it could have sped up some of the negotiations
28:01 on the official side.
28:04 Let's stay on... Thank you for all of that.
28:07 Let's stay on the common framework.
28:09 So it's aimed at countries in debt distress
28:14 and countries that are lower income than Ecuador.
28:24 And so the constructive part that you described,
28:26 that it brings together Paris Club creditors,
28:29 the non Paris club official creditors, and also the private sector.
28:33 So we're working currently with Chad, with Ethiopia,
28:38 with Zambia who have requested common framework treatment.
28:42 How do you see that playing out?
28:43 Will it work, I wonder?
28:48 I think, it certainly has the potential to work,
28:52 and I think theoretically the common framework does make it better
28:57 because... but there's conditions to that, right?
29:00 There has to be better transparency.
29:04 And there has to be complete transparency to build that goodwill.
29:07 And again, you have to look at does it work?
29:11 And how you're defining, "does it work?"
29:13 You have the debt principle,
29:16 that we go into these restructurings with any sovereign
29:20 is you want to maintain as best you can access to commercial credit
29:25 and to market credit after the restructuring, right?
29:31 For entities that are on the lower end of the income
29:35 that do not... that have lost...
29:37 If a sovereign has already, in such a dire situation,
29:43 that they've already experienced market exclusion,
29:47 then obviously this type of restructuring under the G20 framework
29:55 is something that is going to help them, right?
29:58 They have nothing to lose by going through this type of framework.
30:02 I think where we have to be careful with the framework
30:05 is around sovereigns that may have a decent economy.
30:10 They have the ability to reprofile the debt
30:14 in a way that allows them not to lose access, right?
30:18 To either bank credit or to the capital markets.
30:22 And that's what we want to make sure.
30:24 And that's why we're very encouraged.
30:26 I just want to say, one statement is that,
30:28 we are very encouraged by the way the G20 and the Paris Club
30:31 has engaged the private sector on the G20 framework.
30:35 And we believe that's going to be critical to make sure that it works
30:39 in terms of having the private sector at the table early.
30:42 Julie, how do you think about the short-term
30:44 versus long-term trade-offs for countries?
30:47 You could think about it as a liquidity problem
30:50 versus the longer-term sustainability or solvency issues
30:54 that the people of the country face.
30:57 Are those incentives all in line...
31:00 It seems to me that creditors have a large incentive
31:04 to see the liquidity problem solved,
31:06 meaning the short-run problem, and then maybe do it again.
31:10 You mentioned all of the high number
31:12 of Paris Club reschedulings that have already been underway.
31:18 Yeah, I think that in terms of the trade-offs,
31:20 you're trading off immediate relief with long-term access.
31:25 And the funding growth needed, right?
31:28 So when you think about how a country that goes through that process
31:33 is going to have to balance that
31:35 against their desire to finance their SDGs.
31:38 And all of that... And there's not going to be enough official money to do that.
31:43 So I think that the trade-offs that you're constantly trying to balance
31:47 when you go through one of these negotiations
31:49 is how to do it in a way that doesn't cut off a country
31:53 from the additional private sector funding that's going to be needed for them.
31:58 You know, because as we know, there's trillions of dollars of gap
32:02 that the private sector have to fill
32:04 on helping these countries achieve their SDGs.
32:07 So you don't want to be in a situation where they don't have access to funding,
32:11 or you have to look at the, like I said, the bond market,
32:13 the mechanism of the bond market and the bank market are very different.
32:16 On the bank side,
32:18 if commercial banks are forced to take a restructuring
32:23 that is going to have long-term implications for the country
32:26 because credit committees, regulatory constraints...
32:30 It's one of the reasons why there's very little traditional commercial credit
32:35 from large institutions like CITI right now.
32:39 So you see that there is long tail risk
32:43 associated with forcing commercial bank restructuring.
32:46 So you have to be very careful on that.
32:48 And there's also implications where it's not just lending that gets impacted.
32:52 It's the FX lines, it's the trade lines, and other impacts.
32:56 So you have to be...
32:58 So I think when we say under the framework,
33:01 and I think the devil's in the details,
33:02 that everything has to be done on an equal basis.
33:05 If we apply the same methodology to the bond holders
33:09 that we do to commercial bank credit,
33:11 That's not necessarily going to work because they're very different mechanisms
33:14 and very different considerations that we have to take when we're advising.
33:18 And one final question, does collateral...
33:21 More of the lending has been done with collateral
33:25 and also with non-disclosure clauses in it by...
33:29 Not by CITI, but by others.
33:31 Does that change the dynamic of the reprofiling or of the restructuring?
33:36 Yes.
33:38 So I think that when we talk about the transparency principles,
33:41 disclosures of liabilities are key.
33:44 And what we're seeing is there are indirect pledges of central bank reserves.
33:51 Even the banks ownership of its, their own bank repo agreements,
33:56 their long-term commercial commitments with set-offs, right?
34:00 And that's very common with countries that are oil exporting countries
34:04 and have SOEs that are oil companies.
34:06 So those are points of concern.
34:09 And I think that we have to figure out through the transparency principles...
34:13 Those aren't considered as they're not included in the transparency requirements
34:18 and we have to move to get there.
34:20 And I think one of the most...
34:23 I think we at CITI have very much been a supporter
34:28 of the transparency principles that the IMF has put forward in 2019.
34:33 I think a lot of great solutions to transparency
34:36 were in the World Bank report that you did in the fall.
34:41 And I think that we need to address these transparency issues
34:45 if we're going to get there because it is problematic as you go into these.
34:49 And I can tell you that it's a forensics exercise
34:55 to get access to all this information when you're doing a restructuring.
34:59 And without going into the details,
35:01 I can tell you that it was a forensic exercise as we approached it in Ecuador.
35:06 And it will be the same thing in other countries.
35:08 So I think the IIF has recently gotten...
35:14 The IIF recently has asked the OECD
35:18 to take implementing the transparency principles
35:21 because they've been out there for a few years and haven't really been taken up.
35:24 And if the OECD gets backing from the G20
35:27 and it's actually implemented, and we build upon that,
35:30 I think that's going to be critically important
35:32 to make these restructurings work better.
35:36 Thank you very much, Julie.
35:37 Very interesting conversation, I appreciate it.
35:42 [LOMÉ, TOGO] I'm Eric Keglan in Lomé, Togo,
35:45 and you're watching the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meetings.
35:51 A reminder that President Malpass will be joining us again
35:53 to answer your questions in a special live show, following this event.
35:57 So be sure to stick around.
35:58 And in the meantime, you can upvote your favorite question
36:01 [LIVE.WORLDBANK.ORG] at live.worldbank.org.
36:03 That's also where our experts are already answering your questions
36:06 in English, Arabic, Spanish, and French on our live chat.
36:10 That's all at live.worldbank.org.
36:13 And if you've just joined us, welcome.
36:14 I'm Paul Blake and you're watching our Spring Meetings event on Rethinking Debt.
36:18 Now it's fair to say that in this debt crisis,
36:20 children are among those hardest hit.
36:23 Kevin Watkins, chief executive officer of Save the Children,
36:26 knows from experience how debt crises can hurt future generations.
36:30 He joined President Malpass for the final segment
36:33 in today's series of conversations on Rethinking Debt.
36:36 [RETHINKING DEBT: A CONVERSATION WITH KEVIN WATKINS, CEO, SAVE THE CHILDREN]
36:46 [WASHINGTON, DC, USA; LONDON, UK] Hello, I'm here with Kevin Watkins.
36:48 Kevin, you've been involved in development for a long time, for decades.
36:53 I wonder if you have reflections on debt itself
36:56 and how it interacts with countries.
36:59 What are your thoughts in general?
37:02 [KEVIN WATKINS; CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SAVE THE CHILDREN] Thanks David, and it's great to be here with you.
37:05 Well, I think my most immediate reflection is,
37:08 when I look back to when I started in Oxfam, which was back in the early 1990s,
37:15 it was really at the tail end of what had been a lost decade for Latin America.
37:21 And what was the start of the second lost decade for Sub-Saharan Africa.
37:28 And of course, debt wasn't the only problem driving these last decades
37:33 for some of the poorest parts of the world, but it was a significant part.
37:38 And looking back on that episode now, I think there are a couple of lessons
37:44 that have an important bearing on the work that the World Bank
37:48 and you personally are leading, which is first of all,
37:52 a mistake was made both in Latin America and in Africa,
37:56 which was to treat what was a solvency problem as a liquidity problem.
38:03 And so we had a succession of failed initiatives
38:07 until, in the case of the low-income countries, we had the HIPC initiative,
38:12 which of course the bank played a central part in framing and driving through,
38:18 but it really took us the best part of two decades to solve the problem.
38:22 And I think the second lesson that comes out of that period
38:26 is that it's really critical that all creditors participate
38:30 in solving the problem.
38:33 And again, there were a lot of delays in those early stages
38:36 of getting all creditors together and to treat that in a coherent way.
38:43 And of course there was a lack of transparency in the system.
38:46 For many countries it was very difficult to work out where the debt was held
38:51 and how much that was held by who.
38:53 When you say solvency and liquidity...
38:55 So liquidity is looking at the shorter term
38:58 and recognizing that the country is out of cash
39:00 and solvency is the idea of how do you have sustainable debt.
39:04 And so do you think the system has improved over these decades?
39:10 Are we in a better position now to tackle that specific dichotomy
39:15 that the temptation of creditors is to say,
39:18 "well, as long as I get paid over the next three years, I should be okay."
39:23 Versus the longer-term goals of the country
39:26 are to have children grow up with enough food, with enough healthcare.
39:31 How are we in a better place now?
39:35 Well, I think that's a great question
39:37 and you're quite right to draw attention to the human dimension of this.
39:42 What concerned me most about that when I was working in Oxfam
39:47 back in the '90s and the early 2000s
39:50 was the impact that it was having in diverting investment
39:56 that could have been going into nutrition,
39:59 into education, into child health, to creditors
40:02 in a way that was holding back the progress of countries.
40:06 Now as to whether the system is more transparent
40:10 and clearer now than it was back in those days,
40:14 I think that's an open question because if you look at what happened after HIPC,
40:19 of course, a lot of money was saved, about just under 2% of GDP actually
40:24 for the 37 countries covered on average.
40:28 A lot of that money did go into healthcare and education,
40:32 but unfortunately, many of the countries that benefited from the HIPC initiative
40:38 off the back of the commodities boom that happened after 2007
40:45 started taking on credit on terms, which we now look back
40:51 and say was probably not affordable in the case of a lot of sovereign debt.
40:57 And in the case of debt that was incurred,
41:00 in particular from China, was very nontransparent.
41:04 This was debt that was often collateralized against productive assets,
41:08 much of which was held off the books, as it were, in parastatal enterprises.
41:14 And we're now coming to terms with the fact that,
41:17 even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck,
41:22 about half of countries eligible for IDA lending,
41:26 were either back in that distress or in danger
41:30 of falling back into that distress.
41:32 And so I fear not enough lessons were learned from that earlier period.
41:37 And it's absolutely critical that we now do take on board those lessons
41:42 as we work to make the debt sustainability initiative work.
41:48 One of the lessons is the need for transparency,
41:51 for much deeper understanding of what the contracts are,
41:54 what the terms are, what the collateral might be.
41:57 We're working hard on that at the World Bank,
41:59 including our international debt statistics system.
42:04 To have it have more scope and to include more types of debt
42:09 because the creditors are quite skillful at finding ways
42:14 that debt doesn't count in the statistics, and yet it still bears the burden.
42:20 So I think we can make progress on transparency,
42:23 but there still is a tendency or there is an increasing tendency
42:28 to have non-disclosure clauses and collateral, as you say,
42:32 which makes it all difficult.
42:34 At the core of the G20 common framework
42:37 is the idea of trying to have comparable treatment for all creditors.
42:44 And one of the challenges, and I wonder if you'll comment,
42:46 is on the makeup of the international financial system or the legal structure.
42:52 Is it given...
42:54 Is there really a way to have comparable treatment
42:58 that includes private sector creditors?
43:02 Well, I think it's absolutely critical, David,
43:05 that private sector creditors are part of the deal here.
43:08 And both in the common framework and actually in the DSSI framework,
43:14 it's absolutely clear that the expectation
43:16 is that all creditors will participate
43:20 in providing debt relief and supporting the moratorium.
43:25 The reality is you just have to look at the simple arithmetic of debt servicing.
43:30 The Paris Club,
43:31 which is the main group of creditors that have provided debt relief so far,
43:36 account for something in the order of six and a half billion in debt servicing.
43:43 China and private creditors account for something
43:47 in the order of over 35 billion.
43:50 So if we don't have private creditors participating,
43:54 if we don't have China participating,
43:57 we're not going to be able to provide the support
44:00 that countries so desperately need
44:02 as they try to adjust to the fiscal crisis that they're now in.
44:06 Yeah, that's a huge shift from your early days in the 1990s of...
44:12 The Paris club used to be one of the big players within the credit,
44:16 but you're saying six billion versus 35 billion of debt service.
44:20 So it's become lopsided the other way.
44:24 That used to be, in the 1980s, the commercial banks had a big chunk of the debt.
44:31 That's less so the case now, so we have different problems.
44:35 Well, Kevin, do you have other...
44:39 I mean, any direct advice that you want to give to the international community
44:45 on the debt problem?
44:47 Is it a big problem and what could be done?
44:50 One or two things that would make it move along
44:53 in a better direction than in the past?
44:58 Well, I think I'd have to proposition support on that.
45:01 So the first is that it's very clear that for a large group of countries
45:09 that debt servicing is now compromising
45:13 the ability of government to provide basic services
45:17 for some of their most vulnerable citizens and for children.
45:21 I mean, to give one illustration of the problem,
45:24 there are about 35 countries who are covered by the DSSI initiative,
45:31 who are currently spending more on debt servicing
45:35 than they're spending on health.
45:36 This is at a time when child malnutrition is rising
45:42 when child poverty is rising,
45:44 when we have evidence from the World Bank
45:46 the education budgets are being cut very deeply
45:50 as governments respond to fiscal pressures.
45:53 So surely this is an opportunity
45:56 for the world to come together on behalf of children
46:00 and to convert what are essentially unpayable debt liabilities in many cases
46:07 into investments in human capital
46:09 and in particular capital and support for children
46:14 to make sure that they get the education and nutrition,
46:16 the decent health that they have a right to.
46:20 The second point I would make is that, in order for this initiative to work,
46:26 and we really appreciate your leadership, David, in driving this initiative,
46:31 it is critical that all creditors participate.
46:35 It's simply not acceptable for sovereign bond holders
46:38 to sit on the sidelines, to hide behind opaque deals,
46:43 and to assume that they have some sort of exemption ticket
46:47 from their moral responsibilities
46:51 and their obligations towards the countries in question.
46:54 So we would really like to see all creditors participating.
46:59 We know from the experience of Bolivia.
47:02 That when private creditors step up and provide relief,
47:07 it can actually improve the credit rating of countries
47:11 and it can certainly improve the financial sustainability prospects.
47:16 So I think David they would be my two primary recommendations.
47:21 Thank you, that's a great conclusion.
47:23 Kevin, thank you very much for your insights.
47:27 Good luck in all.
47:29 Thank you so much, David. Good to see you.
47:32 [UGANDA] <i>Gyebale ko.</i> I'm Kunda Esther in Uganda,
47:35 and you're watching the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meetings.
47:41 And a big thank you to President Malpass and all of his guests today.
47:44 Let's remind you of the poll we're running throughout this event.
47:47 We're asking you to vote at live.worldbank.org, and the question is
47:50 following the COVID-19 crisis, what is your biggest financial priority?
47:55 Is it A, to save for the future or B, make wise investments,
48:00 or is your priority to C, take out a loan
48:02 or lastly, will you be focusing on D, paying off debts?
48:06 [LIVE.WORLDBANK.ORG] You can cast your vote at live.worldbank.org.
48:09 That's also where you can dive deeper
48:11 into some of the issues raised by our guests.
48:13 We've put together a list of reports, blogs, and briefs,
48:16 so you can learn more about the topics we're discussing today.
48:19 Now it's time to turn to our final discussion.
48:21 This debt crisis is unprecedented because it's linked to a global pandemic,
48:26 but it sure isn't the first time that the world has confronted this challenge.
48:30 In fact, there've been reccurring cycles of debt
48:32 in many parts of the world throughout history.
48:35 I'm joined today by two experts
48:36 to discuss what we can learn from this experience
48:38 to chart a better course for permanent debt reduction.
48:41 [WASHINGTON, DC, USA; FLORIDA, USA; VIRGINIA, USA] Carmen Reinhardt is the World Bank Group Chief Economist,
48:44 and K.Y. Amoako is the president
48:46 of the African Center for Economic Transformation.
48:49 Welcome to you both.
48:50 Carmen, let me start with you.
48:52 You've studied financial crises over the past 800 years.
48:56 What's different about this crisis?
49:00 [CARMEN REINHART; CHIEF ECONOMIST, WORLD BANK GROUP] Well, the list is really too long to go over, but let me highlight a couple...
49:06 I mean, it started as a health crisis.
49:09 Didn't have its roots in a financial bubble or financial-driven...
49:17 It's a pandemic.
49:19 Because it's a pandemic one of the exceptional things about this crisis
49:24 is that it's really hit everyone.
49:26 The synchronicity in output declines in 2020
49:31 is something you have not seen historically.
49:35 Another feature that makes it very different from the 2008, 2009 crisis.
49:42 It's that it's a very regressive crisis.
49:46 It's regressive within countries, hitting the poorest within countries,
49:51 households, smaller firms, and across countries.
49:56 This is different from 2008, 2009,
50:00 where a big focal point of the crisis were about a dozen advanced economies.
50:07 Now the low-income countries,
50:10 the emerging markets are really disproportionately hurting.
50:17 Okay, well, let's talk about some of those emerging economies.
50:19 Over the years, Africa has been hit by cycles of debt buildups, and then crises.
50:25 You've seen the setbacks when budgets become tight
50:28 and payment difficulties become the greatest concern.
50:31 How are people and development programs affected during those crises?
50:37 [DR K.Y. AMOAKO; PRESIDENT, AFRICAN CENTER FOR ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION] Yeah, the first point I would like to make is that [indistinct] in crisis
50:43 are accompanied by high debt payments,
50:46 which naturally restrict the fiscal space to respond.
50:52 When countries are in that distress or a debt crisis,
50:56 they spend their limited finances to pay interest
50:59 rather than to invest in human capital, develop critical infrastructure,
51:05 and facilitate economic growth and job creation.
51:09 As a result countries already struggling to transform their economies
51:13 and invest in their people, suffer further setbacks.
51:19 Let me put it in the context of Africa, that I know best.
51:24 Our growing young population
51:26 requires governments invest in education, skills, and job creation,
51:31 but we increase in debt payments
51:34 and in economic downturn the amount of money countries can invest is reduced.
51:40 As a result, there's a severe risk
51:44 we'll be adding another generation of poorly educated
51:48 and unskilled young people to the ones we already have
51:52 because we have spent our limited resources on debt repayments
51:56 on social protection for the most vulnerable.
52:00 This in Africa would substantially, seems to me,
52:04 affect our ability to transform our great youth population
52:08 into the growing demographic dividend that we are looking for.
52:13 So as I see it by 2020, we all know this,
52:17 Africa will have more people entering the labor market than any world region.
52:23 If they are not gainfully employed, we will have social and political unrest.
52:28 So it seems to me, we need a robust solution.
52:32 We are laying the foundations without a robust solution.
52:36 We'll be laying the foundation for ascertaining the potential risks
52:40 associated with these challenges.
52:42 So it's real.
52:45 Let's talk about some of those solutions,
52:46 and you're talking about some of the risks involved.
52:49 Carmen, I know you've been stressing the need for quick debt resolution.
52:53 Are there examples where decisive debt reduction worked
52:56 and led to better economic conditions
52:58 and in particular, what about in the emerging market...
53:01 emerging markets crises of the 1980s to 2000s?
53:06 Well, so there are examples of quick resolutions,
53:10 but they tend to be unfortunately of the more isolated, idiosyncratic variety.
53:18 Meaning a country that was hit by a natural disaster,
53:23 and it was able to quickly renegotiate with its creditors.
53:27 But when you asked me about the 1980s,
53:31 a big takeaway from the 1980s is precisely we don't want to repeat that.
53:37 For the very reasons that K.Y. alluded to.
53:44 You know, the burden of having resources devoted to debt servicing
53:50 at a time when resource needs to recover from the pandemic crises are so dire.
54:00 This highlights the importance of debt relief.
54:02 But what am I afraid of right now?
54:04 I'm afraid of that, so far, the move in that direction is very, very slow.
54:16 We have not seen private creditor participation in DSSI as yet.
54:25 And if history is any guide,
54:28 unfortunately the creditors will also move slowly in granting debt relief.
54:40 And we have a much more complex creditor base today than we did in the 1980s.
54:50 Countries have bond holders, a variety of private creditors,
54:57 a broader array of official creditors.
54:59 It's complicated.
55:01 So the need for speedy debt reduction is clearly there.
55:08 But as I said, the problem, historically,
55:14 has been a very slow movement on the creditor side.
55:19 I think more transparency.
55:21 Something that the bank has been really working very assiduously for some time,
55:30 to increase transparency of debt and credits and terms of borrowing and so on,
55:38 can increase the creditor coordination and speed things along.
55:45 It won't solve the issues, but it may help speed things up.
55:50 And K.Y Carmen was just talking there about the changing creditor base.
55:54 And I've been reading a little bit about this.
55:56 Diversifying creditor base with private creditors increasing their share.
56:01 Tell us a little bit about why that is a challenge
56:04 and how countries in Africa are dealing with this new challenge.
56:07 Are there any lessons that can be learned from past experiences
56:11 to improve debt management today?
56:14 Yeah, I think both of you and Carmen are very correct
56:17 that the debt situation is a lot more complex
56:21 In that first part we all agree,
56:23 but we also agreed that everybody wants to ensure that Africa transforms.
56:29 As I say, with our growing population we must spend more
56:32 on infrastructure, education, urbanization.
56:35 We need smart agriculture, we need smart technology, and we need smart people.
56:41 But we see that over the years,
56:42 so the last few decades, China, for example,
56:46 has emerged as the biggest bilateral lender to Africa.
56:51 Transferring nearly $150 billion.
56:55 In addition, there's much more private sector debt
57:01 and Russia and Middle Eastern cities are becoming big lenders to Africa.
57:07 These new players often, let's say, operate by rules
57:12 that may seem less transparent.
57:14 That's a fact.
57:16 Making it more difficult to understand the scale of the problem.
57:21 So capacity across the continent to manage debt
57:24 is more robust, it seems to be, than it was in the 1990s.
57:29 But after the COVID crisis,
57:31 several African countries are facing debt distress or a debt crisis.
57:37 But as you say, we need to learn from the past.
57:40 I've just written a book about Africa and development
57:43 called " If you know the beginning well, the end shall not trouble you,"
57:47 from an African proverb.
57:49 So we need to learn lessons from the past to inform the future.
57:53 That's the essence of what I'm trying to say.
57:55 So what are some of the...
57:56 First national and regional debt problems are not individually events
58:02 for countries with temporary liquidity shortages.
58:05 They will over time have significant repercussions
58:09 for global financial stability.
58:12 That's one lesson.
58:13 Second, negotiating ad hoc solutions with different borrowers does not work.
58:20 Any solution developed must work for all lenders, official and commercial.
58:27 Third point I'll make is that the process, as Carmen said, must be transparent.
58:33 Covering any new financing sources
58:36 and the framer for subsequent transactions between parties.
58:41 Fourth and finally, by pursuing a green, strong policy reform program
58:47 at the country level,
58:48 putting the money in the game, and giving creditors real options.
58:55 if you do so, uncertainty can be minimized and investor confidence restored.
59:02 So those are some of the lessons that I think
59:04 are applicable to our situation today.
59:08 And Carmen three countries have applied so far for debt relief
59:11 under the G20 common framework for debt treatments.
59:14 Now, for those of us who might not be aware,
59:16 can you tell us briefly what that is?
59:18 And then can you talk to us about whether, in your assessment,
59:21 this is a step in the right direction
59:23 in shaping debt restructuring going forward?
59:29 So, first of all,
59:30 let's start out with the debt suspension initiative,
59:36 the DSSI, the debt service suspension initiative.
59:40 We were dealt, we have a once in a hundred year pandemic.
59:45 This is an exceptional shock as we've already discussed.
59:50 So the DSSI was primarily designed with the view
59:56 that, during the pandemic,
01:00:01 countries would be far better off diverting resources away from debt servicing
01:00:08 to deal with the health and social emergency
01:00:12 and the social needs with the pandemic,
01:00:16 but it's a temporary solution.
01:00:19 And it was designed as a temporary solution.
01:00:22 Now, K.Y has already alluded to this.
01:00:27 Even before COVID, a significant share of countries
01:00:31 were either in debt distress or in a high likelihood of debt distress.
01:00:37 Since COVID that number has increased.
01:00:39 So the common framework moves from the recognition
01:00:44 that these problems are temporary
01:00:47 to that the problems are more structural,
01:00:51 that debt reduction of one form or another is needed.
01:00:56 And by debt reduction, it can take many forms.
01:00:59 It can be face value reductions
01:01:02 or it could be lengthening maturities and giving better lending terms.
01:01:08 It can take a variety of forms.
01:01:12 That's not what we're discussing here,
01:01:14 but the main point is that you need debt reduction in net present value terms,
01:01:19 which is something beyond the DSSI.
01:01:24 And K.Y. and I also mentioned the issue of transparency.
01:01:29 Right now I think a very important driver
01:01:34 of how quickly the common framework can move forward
01:01:39 in the cases of Chad, Ethiopia, and Zambia,
01:01:43 the three countries that have applied,
01:01:45 importantly, relies on creditors' being able to get together
01:01:50 and work something out.
01:01:51 And for creditors to be able to work something out, you need transparency.
01:01:56 And as K.Y has noted,
01:02:02 we have a lot of new entrants into the creditor pool, and...
01:02:09 So it will be a challenge.
01:02:12 I will conclude by saying it's a step in the right direction.
01:02:16 It opens the door to the recognition
01:02:20 that the problems are bigger than a temporary pandemic
01:02:27 And, you know...
01:02:30 But in these things, I always say the devil is in the details.
01:02:34 So we'll see how creditors can coordinate to produce a good outcome
01:02:43 for the countries that have applied.
01:02:45 K.Y., let's just get the final thought from you.
01:02:47 What can the international community do to reach a more permanent solution?
01:02:52 Wow, that's a big one.
01:02:54 I think that starts with the DSSI that Carmen has just mentioned.
01:03:00 It's a step in the right direction, but it's not sufficient.
01:03:04 And then, so we need to build upon that.
01:03:07 I think in the first stage we need to extend it to the end of 2021
01:03:12 to give countries more fiscal space to keep investing
01:03:16 in the priorities that I've already mentioned.
01:03:18 And then there's obviously the issue of a common framework
01:03:21 and how we'll work on that. So this is a first step, but how do we deepen that going forward?
01:03:26 So very much, I agree with what Carmen has said on that.
01:03:29 We also need to work on innovation, solutions to the current debt challenge
01:03:34 so that they respond to diverse needs of borrowers and lenders.
01:03:40 My colleagues at the Economic Commission for Africa, which I headed before.
01:03:46 have been arguing, for example, that we need to acknowledge,
01:03:50 come up with a fairer rating system
01:03:53 for African borrowers, borrowing countries.
01:03:56 For example, they indicate Greece has a worse debt to GDP ratio than Ghana,
01:04:04 but Greece can borrow at less than 2%,
01:04:09 whereas it's at least 4.5% for Ghana.
01:04:13 So the whole international rating system
01:04:15 and how African countries cannot access the market
01:04:19 is also an issue that they've been talking about,
01:04:23 are the requests of the African finance ministers
01:04:25 and they met in Addis Ababa only a few days ago.
01:04:29 The ministers came out with their recommendation.
01:04:32 That the SDR amount should create up to $650 billion worth of SDRs.
01:04:42 And to establish an online mechanism
01:04:45 for G7 countries to transfer their SDRs to shares...
01:04:50 SDR shares to low- and middle-income countries.
01:04:53 That's a specific recommendation from African finance ministers.
01:04:58 I'm glad that, only yesterday I believe,
01:05:01 the managing director of the IMF has indicated
01:05:04 she is committed to recommending to her board, the creation of additional SDRs.
01:05:11 I think they're the kind of integrated solutions we need.
01:05:13 But we should not just focus on debt, and that's my main point.
01:05:18 If Africa is to achieve...
01:05:23 Rekindle loss to COVID in terms of meeting our SDG goals in the decade ahead,
01:05:32 we must transform our economies at a faster pace than we have been so far.
01:05:40 I think it goes beyond that, it's about transformation.
01:05:44 And to transform, African countries, like countries everywhere, must borrow.
01:05:50 But to ensure that this borrowing is manageable,
01:05:52 it must be affordable to ensure we can repay our debts.
01:05:57 So these are the fundamental issues
01:05:59 that I want to put on the table in the long term.
01:06:01 K.Y. Amoako and Carmen M. Reinhart,
01:06:03 thank you so much for sharing your insights with us.
01:06:05 Now, we've heard a lot about how much debt and financing
01:06:08 can help or hinder a resilient recovery in developing countries.
01:06:12 The way countries handle their borrowing today
01:06:14 will determine whether they can achieve their development goals
01:06:17 tomorrow and into the future.
01:06:19 It will also weigh heavily on the financial hopes and dreams
01:06:22 of citizens everywhere, especially youth.
01:06:26 Now, throughout this event, we've been hearing from young global leaders
01:06:29 and let's hear from them once more.
01:06:32 [IMPACT ENTREPRENEURSHIP ADVOCATE, COLOMBIA] In five years, I hope that I can buy a home for my parents.
01:06:36 [RESARCH ANALYST, LEBANON] I hope that I would have recovered resources that I lost
01:06:39 due to the government defaulting on its debt.
01:06:41 [STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON, USA, D.R. CONGO] I hope that I am living debt-free and financially stable.
01:06:46 [SHAZEEB M. KHAIRUL ISLAM; OBAMA SCHOLAR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY] I hope that I am able to give access to financing
01:06:49 [FOUNDERY YY VENTURES, ONE YOUNG WORLD AMBASSADOR, BANGLADESH] to 100 people of my generation from emerging countries.
01:06:53 [IVANNA VELISONE; COLLEGE STUDENT, ARGENTINA] I hope to own my own home and feel more comfortable managing my budget.
01:06:57 [CO-FOUNDER, ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS (ZMA), NORTH MACEDONIA] I hope that I would start a family and get on the Aggie 100 list.
01:07:02 [ANGAR ENKHTUR; TEAM ASSISTANT, WORLD BANK, MONGOLIA] To travel to the countries that I have never traveled to
01:07:07 and consider saving up for cash for any kind of emergency situations.
01:07:13 [LAMIJA HRELJIC; STUDENT, SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA] The current financial system doesn't work for me. Let's fix it.
01:07:16 [SUSTAINABILITY SPECIALIST, ONE YOUNG WORLD AMBASSADOR, SRI LANKA] The current financial system doesn't work for me. Let's fix it.
01:07:22 [ENTREPRENEUER, ARGENTINA] The current financial system doesn't work for me. Let's fix it.
01:07:26 [BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND SALES SPECIALIST, BEAM TECH COMPANY, TURKEY] Let's fix it.
01:07:27 Let's fix it.
01:07:28 Let's fix it.
01:07:29 [CARITTA SEPPA; CO-FOUNDER AND COO, TESPACIK, FINLAND] Let's fix it.
01:07:30 [SALIH MAHMOUD; FOUNDER, MOSUL SPACE, IRAQ] Let's fix it.
01:07:32 Let's fix it.
01:07:36 So great to hear all of those positive hopes for the future.
01:07:39 Now we're only halfway through this week's events,
01:07:41 and if you want to share your thoughts on any aspect of our Spring Meetings,
01:07:45 [#RESILIENTRECOVERY] you can use the hashtag "ResilientRecovery."
01:07:48 Now, please don't go anywhere.
01:07:49 The show continues live from the World Bank Group headquarters,
01:07:52 where my colleague Srimathi Sridhar is standing by
01:07:54 with World Bank Group president, David Malpass.
01:07:57 We'll be looking at your questions, your comments,
01:08:00 revealing the results of today's poll, and much more.
01:08:15 [LIVE: WASHINGTON, DC] And we're live once more from the World Bank Group headquarters
01:08:17 in Washington, DC.
01:08:19 [SRIMATHI SRIDHAR; WORLD BANK GROUP] I'm Srimathi Sridhar and over the next half hour or so,
01:08:21 we'll hear from youth in Japan, Lesotho, and Nigeria
01:08:25 on their hopes for a COVID-19 recovery.
01:08:27 We'll also reveal the results of our poll
01:08:30 [LIVE: WORLD BANK GROUOP PRESIDENT DAVID MALPASS ON RETHINKING DEBT] and speak to our country directors in India and Benin
01:08:32 about the climate challenges and action taking place in those countries.
01:08:36 But first, to get his thoughts, I'm delighted to be joined
01:08:38 by World Bank group president David Malpass.
01:08:41 David it's so nice to see you again, thanks for being here.
01:08:43 Hi Sri, good to be here.
01:08:44 So we've gotten a lot of great questions over the past few weeks
01:08:47 on the role debt could play in helping countries recover from the pandemic.
01:08:51 So let's get started with this first question.
01:08:52 It was sent to us on video by Ebuka Orjiakor in Nigeria.
01:08:57 Let's take a look.
01:08:58 [EBUKA ORJIAKOR, NIGERIA] Hello everyone, hi, my name is Christian Ebuka Orjiakor.
01:09:03 So the big question, the question here
01:09:05 is how does the debt affect development?
01:09:08 Does debt promote development or deter development?
01:09:11 Or can debt be a double edge sword?
01:09:14 Thank you.
01:09:18 So how does debt affect development?
01:09:20 What would you tell Ebuka, David?
01:09:21 Yep, and these are really interesting topics
01:09:25 that people have been discussing today.
01:09:26 [DAVID MALPASS; PRESIDENT, WORLD BANK GROUP] And that's a critical one, it is a double edge sword.
01:09:30 If you borrow and don't have a good purpose for it,
01:09:34 it's going to come back because you have to pay debt service,
01:09:37 you have to repay the debt
01:09:39 and you won't get what you want out of the debt.
01:09:41 But on the other hand, for developing countries, for everyone really,
01:09:46 debt can be an important part of a growth initiative.
01:09:49 You can fund health initiatives,
01:09:51 you can fund, very importantly, new businesses.
01:09:55 So if we think of development, there should be more and more debt.
01:09:59 And that's what we're trying to create that
01:10:01 with some of our transparency initiatives.
01:10:03 If the people of the country know what their governments are borrowing,
01:10:07 and there's some transparency of the contracts.
01:10:10 What's the interest rate on the contract?
01:10:13 What's the purpose of the contract?
01:10:15 That helps a lot.
01:10:16 [LIVE DISCUSSION: FINANCING THE FUTURE AMID CRISIS] And you know, it works also on the investment side,
01:10:19 meaning what are we getting for our money?
01:10:22 Will it be useful to the community?
01:10:24 Will it be useful to the nation?
01:10:26 And what really is the plan for using this debt capacity of the country?
01:10:31 I think those are valid, relevant questions.
01:10:34 And we're right now at a point in the world,
01:10:36 where some of the countries are over indebted.
01:10:39 There's an unsustainable amount of debt.
01:10:41 So that's a big challenge that we're working on.
01:10:44 So understanding how that affects development, now
01:10:46 let's bring in the youth perspective.
01:10:48 We have a question online from Tara
01:10:50 who wants to know what youth can do in their communities
01:10:53 to create more awareness around debt and debt financing.
01:10:58 Well, that can apply to lots of things.
01:11:00 What can they do to be more engaged in health and in education?
01:11:04 And I think that to engage in institutions
01:11:07 and to help build stronger institutions,
01:11:10 ones that, for example, as a starting point for a lot of countries
01:11:14 is do you know which government officials have the authority to authorize debt
01:11:19 or to commit the country to debt or the community?
01:11:23 It works at really all levels of government.
01:11:26 And so I think young people can be engaged, be educated
01:11:29 about finance, about what's an interest rate.
01:11:32 How does it work?
01:11:34 And then how do you get involved in the institutions of your country, too?
01:11:38 Because the goal is to have debt used in ways that really help development.
01:11:44 So that means engaging, who makes the decisions
01:11:49 on when there can be a debt contract.
01:11:52 How did they decide what to invest in
01:11:55 and how do you get good use out of all of that?
01:11:57 I think there should be a lot of engagement.
01:12:00 And that starts, frankly, with a lot of education
01:12:03 about what are the goals of your country?
01:12:07 How does it interact with health and education and climate?
01:12:11 What you want as a nation.
01:12:13 Those are all questions I think that are really important.
01:12:16 So a lot of ways for youths to be proactive and education is key there.
01:12:20 This next online question is about negative interest rates.
01:12:23 This online viewer wants to know how do they work
01:12:26 and can they be a solution for the world's poorest?
01:12:30 Economists have been trying to figure that out.
01:12:33 So for some years now there's been this question
01:12:35 of why is inflation as low as it is
01:12:38 given the amount of growth in central bank balance sheets.
01:12:40 So these are questions that we probably can't resolve, figure out right now,
01:12:46 but negative interest rates are, one way to think about them
01:12:52 is they're the result of institutional success over 50 years
01:12:58 where central banks and budgets of countries had some kind of discipline.
01:13:04 And so then you get to the point
01:13:06 where you can borrow at a very low interest rate
01:13:09 or even a negative interest rate.
01:13:11 The challenge with that is you get to do that,
01:13:16 people get to do that once in a generation maybe
01:13:19 because you're borrowing from future generations
01:13:22 at a very low or a negative interest rate.
01:13:25 And therefore that you're going to need to repay that debt.
01:13:29 And so the country, or the borrowing authority
01:13:33 sometimes it might be a municipality, even a city,
01:13:37 needs to make really good use of the debt or of the borrowing
01:13:43 because you're going to have to pay it back.
01:13:44 And you don't get to do it over and over again.
01:13:47 There'll be a period of years maybe
01:13:49 where the world enjoys this super low interest rate.
01:13:53 One challenge for development
01:13:55 is the developing countries themselves don't get to fully participate in this.
01:14:00 The interest rates have fallen for the advanced economies,
01:14:03 but very few of the developing countries have gotten as much benefit from that.
01:14:10 So there's an inherent unfairness in this,
01:14:14 in that people that already had some national wealth
01:14:18 are getting the low interest rate.
01:14:20 And so that is I think a challenge, we want to address that as the World Bank
01:14:25 with good practices in the developing countries,
01:14:27 if there can be transparency, good choice of projects
01:14:31 that can help the country get lower interest rates.
01:14:37 Now this next question comes from Ngugi Irungu in Kenya,
01:14:41 and he wants to know if there are models of financing public projects
01:14:46 that ensure governments can repay debts comfortably?
01:14:51 Emphasis on comfortably.
01:14:53 So the way to do that
01:14:55 is if you get a really good return from your project.
01:14:58 So if I have a public private partnership or investment that's well chosen.
01:15:05 And so Kenya has huge challenges with transportation and with agriculture.
01:15:10 So choose projects that really have a payoff,
01:15:14 then you can afford the debt service and do it comfortably.
01:15:19 That gets into this institutional structure
01:15:22 of how did you decide on the projects that your country wants to undertake?
01:15:29 This gets into all these challenges of urban and city planning.
01:15:33 World Bank is very involved in those because as cities get bigger and bigger,
01:15:38 they need to make investments that will help people be able to get to work,
01:15:42 do it in an environmentally friendly way,
01:15:45 that will help people save time
01:15:48 by not having to travel for hours and hours a day.
01:15:53 One of the successful World Bank projects
01:15:55 has been in cities where they have mountainous areas or bad roads into the city
01:16:03 putting aerial tram car or some kind of mass transit
01:16:07 and can really help people get to work in fewer hours per day.
01:16:12 And that saves them.
01:16:14 So how do you create a public-private investment
01:16:18 that can do the right things at the time that it's needed?
01:16:21 These are challenges, we call them, or I think of them as governance challenges.
01:16:27 Do you have a city council that makes good decisions?
01:16:31 Who's involved? How do they disclose what the decision...
01:16:35 You know, a big part of this, I think is the transparency that's needed
01:16:40 so that people know how did a decision get made
01:16:44 and what was the evidence, what was the basis for the decision?
01:16:49 That can really help get us to good decision making.
01:16:52 Sure, this is actually a great segue into my next and last question,
01:16:56 which is about debt transparency.
01:16:57 So one of our online viewers says,
01:17:00 "debt transparency is obviously critical for impact,
01:17:02 but COVID-19 has changed that, and how has it changed it
01:17:06 and how can we overcome this huge economic and financial hurdle
01:17:10 as we look to recover?"
01:17:14 Yeah, so one of the challenges working from home,
01:17:18 and that's happening in countries around the world
01:17:21 with different degrees of success.
01:17:23 Some countries don't really have electricity access for a lot of the people.
01:17:27 And so it's very hard to then be working from home.
01:17:30 Also in the informal sector, a lot of workers are left out.
01:17:34 They don't get a social safety net
01:17:37 and there's not the concept of working from home.
01:17:40 You have to be at the job.
01:17:42 And so this has created challenges.
01:17:46 So we think of them in the advanced economies
01:17:50 as one of transparency or connectivity.
01:17:54 How do you really get connected?
01:17:56 I think for a lot of the poor countries, it's more of a survival question
01:18:01 and nutrition, a food insecurity question that are very pressing needs.
01:18:07 You know, one of the harmful aspects of the COVID crisis
01:18:11 is kids getting left out of school
01:18:13 because they fall backward in their education.
01:18:16 They may not get the vaccinations that they need,
01:18:19 that schools may have been one of the systems
01:18:21 that gave them nutritious food during the day.
01:18:26 And so these are all... so I think in terms of transparency,
01:18:31 we can also add in digitalization or having data that helps countries
01:18:38 and governments know where they need to put resources.
01:18:42 World Bank works extensively in those areas of trying to have data and surveys
01:18:47 that are meaningful to people in countries so that they can make progress.
01:18:54 All that's been made harder by COVID.
01:18:57 And so we, I think, need to really work urgently
01:19:02 toward that recovery on the other side of COVID.
01:19:06 Can I say a final word on vaccinations and transparency importance?
01:19:10 Who's been able to get vaccinations?
01:19:12 The World Bank has extensive programs.
01:19:15 Now we'll have 50 countries with financing available for vaccines.
01:19:19 And that means some system of keeping track of who's gotten vaccinated
01:19:23 so that people aren't mistakenly getting vaccinated twice
01:19:28 or more than they need to.
01:19:30 But also how do you get full coverage
01:19:32 to those people that want it, and that are most vulnerable?
01:19:36 How do you do that?
01:19:37 And that can be an aspect of digitalization and of transparency.
01:19:43 Now COVID-19 has changed so much for us here, so it's really great to hear
01:19:47 about how debt transparency is still a priority for us.
01:19:50 David, with that I want to thank you so much for joining me here today.
01:19:53 And for telling us more about the role debt can play
01:19:55 in helping countries build a green, inclusive, and resilient recovery.
01:19:59 Super, Sri, thank you and thanks, everybody.
01:20:02 I'm glad people are interested in these topics.
01:20:04 Absolutely, thank you.
01:20:05 Thanks.
01:20:08 [BRASÍLIA, BRAZIL] Hello everyone, I'm Mariana Serachi in Brasília, Brazil
01:20:11 and you're watching the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meetings.
01:20:17 [LIVE: WASHINGTON, DC] Now throughout these Spring Meetings,
01:20:18 we're highlighting the voices and perspectives
01:20:20 [FINANCING THE FUTURE: YOUTH VOICES] of youth leaders and thinkers around the world.
01:20:23 For the past few weeks, we've been collecting video submissions
01:20:26 from hundreds of young people.
01:20:28 We ask them about the role that they and their peers
01:20:30 could play in a resilient recovery.
01:20:32 Today, we hear from Jin in Japan, Mapaseka in Lesotho,
01:20:36 and Benjamin and Anthony, both from Nigeria.
01:20:40 [HOW CAN YOUTH IN YOUR COUNTRY PARTICIPATE IN A RESILIENT RECOVERY]
01:20:43 [FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC?]
01:20:45 [MAPASEKA MPHAHAMA, LESOTHO] I believe an establishment of a national youth council
01:20:49 is a strategy for resilience recovery plan for COVID-19
01:20:53 and national youth council is a platform for youth to be part
01:20:57 of processes, decision making, and hold leaders accountable.
01:21:01 [BENJAMIN ONYEMA, NIGERIA] For a resilient recovery from the pandemic,
01:21:03 you should use your various social media platforms
01:21:06 to promote good information about the COVID-19 vaccine.
01:21:09 This will help to reduce vaccine hesitancy
01:21:11 that is very common among the Nigerian population today.
01:21:14 With massive broad vaccination coverage,
01:21:16 we can begin to release our foot off the pedal
01:21:19 of some of the intervention and restrictions, lockdown
01:21:22 that is hurting directly or indirectly hurting the economy.
01:21:25 [JIN TANAKA, JAPAN] I believe that young people can contribute
01:21:28 in the new jobs created by public project and at building green infrastructure
01:21:33 will lead to a resilient recovery.
01:21:36 [ONUM ANTHONY, NIGERIA] Reach out to young people considering factors such as sex, age, and gender.
01:21:41 Putting diversity at the center, leveraging the agency of young people
01:21:45 in the context of information, technology, social media,
01:21:49 and networking is the way to go.
01:21:52 The youth will be able to advocate for implementation of policies
01:21:56 that help women-owned businesses that have been affected to be resuscitated,
01:22:02 policies that foster youth employment,
01:22:05 policies that tackle technological gaps that are visible
01:22:09 in rural communities that hinder education.
01:22:13 We are in an era whereby a whole lot of jobs has gone obsolete
01:22:16 and new ones are springing up.
01:22:17 They are springing up with different new skill set requirements.
01:22:20 The youth should endeavor to engage in skill acquisition
01:22:23 that will make them more employable.
01:22:25 This will help to reduce the high rates of unemployment in the country today.
01:22:29 In addition to that, government should make credit facilities,
01:22:32 loans easily accessible to the youth.
01:22:34 This will encourage business startups and SMEs that will directly boost the GDP.
01:22:39 Listen to young people.
01:22:40 Young people of the 21st century have a language.
01:22:44 It's necessary, crucial, and pertinent
01:22:46 for governments across the world to ask the question,
01:22:49 "what is the language of young people?"
01:22:51 [#YOUTHONCOVID19]
01:23:01 [VIENTIANE, LAO PDR] <i>Sabaidi.</i> Hello, I'm Naidalaine Manosa in Vientiane Lao PDR
01:23:08 and you are watching the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meetings.
01:23:15 And my colleague, Paul Blake now joins us
01:23:16 in the World Bank Group headquarters.
01:23:18 Paul let's talk polls.
01:23:20 We've been running them all this week for each of our events
01:23:22 so what was today's question?
01:23:23 Yeah, that's right, we have a different poll each day.
01:23:25 Today's poll is following the COVID-19 crisis,
01:23:28 what is your biggest financial priority?
01:23:31 And the options are save for the future,
01:23:34 make wise investments, take out a loan, or pay off debts.
01:23:37 And here's how everyone's voting.
01:23:39 In first place, 55.8% of the vote goes to make wise investments.
01:23:44 27.3% of the vote goes to save for the future, that's coming in second place.
01:23:49 Third place is paying off debt, that's 11.8% of the vote.
01:23:52 And finally taking out a loan,
01:23:54 5.1% of folks say that is their biggest financial priority
01:23:57 after the COVID-19 pandemic has abated.
01:24:00 Okay, I was a bit surprised by that.
01:24:03 I was a little surprised by it,
01:24:04 although I would have thought paying off debts,
01:24:05 but that's my own personal one.
01:24:07 I've got some student loans that I need to pay off.
01:24:10 [PAUL BLAKE; WORLD BANK GROUP] That'll be my priority for sure.
01:24:11 I thought that would be a little higher up.
01:24:12 I personally voted for save for the future.
01:24:15 Which maybe I can argue that, I think that's making a wise investment.
01:24:19 There's some overlap there, but yeah, it's good.
01:24:21 I mean, if you save for the future,
01:24:23 next crisis or anything that comes along, you'll have a little more cushion.
01:24:27 Exactly, well, thanks for that, Paul.
01:24:30 For sure.
01:24:31 Now all this week, we've been speaking with country directors and managers
01:24:34 [COUNTRY SPOTLIGHT ON INDIA] around the world on their climate challenges
01:24:36 and the actions they've been taking in their countries.
01:24:39 Today we head to India.
01:24:40 It's from New Delhi that I spoke to country director Junaid Ahmad
01:24:44 and I asked him what a resilient recovery looks like
01:24:47 in the world's second most populous country.
01:24:50 Paul, that's a very tough question you asked, but a very important one.
01:24:54 [JUNAID KAMALAHMAD; COUNTRY DIRECTOR, INDIA] I think there are two aspects to what a resilient recovery looks like.
01:24:58 One is first, we recognize that India is a federal system
01:25:02 with states in size as big as Brazil and Nigeria and Germany.
01:25:07 So any recovery has to be about a state recovery,
01:25:11 and indeed the future of India lies in the states of India.
01:25:14 But the biggest story that's coming out of India
01:25:17 is how it's completely changing the social protection system.
01:25:21 We're in a world of shocks.
01:25:23 There's going to be more shocks in the future,
01:25:24 whether it's climate shocks, pandemics, income shocks
01:25:28 and countries have to begin to protect not only its poor and vulnerable,
01:25:34 but also its workers against those shocks.
01:25:36 And final point Paul, very, very important.
01:25:39 The world's largest direct transfers to women-headed households.
01:25:43 Three hundred million women-headed households
01:25:46 get direct cash transfers, especially during shocks.
01:25:50 That's what a recovery will look like in the future.
01:25:53 Strong social protection to protect the poor,
01:25:56 the vulnerable, and the human capital of India.
01:25:59 So it sounds like social protection
01:26:01 is playing this sort of central role in the recovery.
01:26:04 When the bank is working with India,
01:26:06 is it also really putting priority on sustainability in the recovery?
01:26:12 Absolutely.
01:26:13 There's some very, very important news coming out of India.
01:26:17 First, India will be one of the very few countries
01:26:21 that will meet its NDC commitments that it made in Paris at COP26.
01:26:27 In particular, the energy intensity is coming down.
01:26:30 The level of support that you see from a green transition coming up.
01:26:35 The fact that it'll keep its NDC,
01:26:37 so that its contribution to less than two degrees centigrade,
01:26:41 is big news for India, but that's not the only news.
01:26:45 India is in the middle of some complex development transitions.
01:26:49 These are transitions in the urban sector,
01:26:51 in the energy sector, in the transport sector, the technology sector,
01:26:55 and these are only few of the sectors.
01:26:57 And as India succeeds in completing its development transitions,
01:27:01 it will help the world secure its climate transition.
01:27:04 That's how powerful the impact of India is globally.
01:27:08 And for those of us who aren't as familiar with India
01:27:10 and it's kind of development story.
01:27:12 Talk to me about the significance of some of these transitions
01:27:15 and in particular, talk to me about what it's going to take
01:27:17 to invest in the next wave of transition.
01:27:19 So both the significance now
01:27:21 and also what the world needs to do to invest in India's greener future.
01:27:27 I'll give you an example.
01:27:28 Today one of the biggest underground metros in a city is in Delhi
01:27:35 and it transports millions of people, you know.
01:27:38 Delhi's is a city of about 18 to 20 million people and growing.
01:27:42 And that underground metro is a major public transport system.
01:27:48 Sixty percent of the energy of Delhi's metro
01:27:54 is from a renewable park in Madhya Pradesh.
01:27:58 A state hundreds of miles away.
01:28:01 And the World Bank has helped Madhya Pradesh develop that renewable energy park.
01:28:07 And the grid is transmitting that renewable energy
01:28:10 into financing this transport system in India.
01:28:13 Perhaps one of the most powerful ones, that I often refer to,
01:28:17 India is one of the few countries in the world
01:28:19 that can have a passenger railway system and a freight railway system.
01:28:24 Australia, Canada, China are the other countries that have it.
01:28:28 But why would such a parallel system matter?
01:28:31 As I mentioned earlier, if you can move freight
01:28:34 from road onto the freight rail corridor, you'll take I would say 30, 40%
01:28:41 of the greenhouse gas emission from road transport
01:28:45 and put it into electric freight transport.
01:28:49 Those are the type of shifts that we're making.
01:28:51 And here, too, the World Bank has invested in the freight corridor of India.
01:28:57 The next one, this is going to be the hardest question
01:28:58 you'll probably get all day and it's about you.
01:29:01 I want to know what's the best part of your job
01:29:03 and what inspires you in your work?
01:29:05 I wasn't expecting that question.
01:29:08 Paul, we're very privileged to be working
01:29:12 in a multilateral institution like the World Bank.
01:29:15 It offers us a platform to make a difference in the world.
01:29:19 And that I think is...
01:29:21 perhaps the biggest source of inspiration all of us get.
01:29:24 To be in India, which can make such a huge difference
01:29:27 on climate change around the world, it is a privilege.
01:29:31 If the World Bank did not exist today, we would have to recreate it.
01:29:35 And that's why I say it's a privilege to be working in this institution.
01:29:40 Some inspiring words.
01:29:41 Junaid Ahmad, country director for India, thank you so much.
01:29:44 Thank you.
01:29:45 [KINGSTON, JAMAICA] <i>Wah Gwaan.</i> I'm Charmine Wright from Kingston Jamaica
01:29:49 and you're watching the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meetings.
01:29:54 [LIVE: WASHINGTON, DC] And now let's check in on the social media scene.
01:29:56 Paul, what can you tell us about today's conversation?
01:29:59 I've just been talking to our social media moderators,
01:30:01 Who've been across the conversation throughout the day
01:30:04 and they said that many people out there are reiterating online
01:30:08 the need for comprehensive solutions that are green, resilient, and inclusive.
01:30:12 We just had that conversation with World Bank Group president, David Malpass.
01:30:15 And he talked a lot about the intersection between debt
01:30:18 and finding these solutions.
01:30:21 They've also told us, the moderators have told us,
01:30:23 that a lot of the conversation is happening
01:30:25 in Nigeria, Kenya, India, Canada, Ghana, the UK,
01:30:30 the Philippines, and Mexico.
01:30:31 So hello to everyone out there in those countries
01:30:33 and in other countries, really appreciate you taking part.
01:30:36 [JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #DEBT4DEV] Yeah, that's great.
01:30:37 And we also have some notable comments coming in on Twitter.
01:30:41 Can you tell me about some of those mentions.
01:30:43 For sure, we heard from Badruddeen Naseem.
01:30:47 They are with the Maldives Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
01:30:50 and they wrote in to say that learning more about debt financing
01:30:53 and how countries can have a resilient recovery
01:30:55 is the main reason they tuned in
01:30:57 and what they were looking forward to hearing today.
01:31:00 We also heard from Richard Watts, a senior advisor at Save the Children,
01:31:03 who tweeted that the end of the debt service suspension initiative
01:31:07 should be needs-based.
01:31:08 And he's hoping to hear more new ideas,
01:31:12 to get private creditors, to participate in debt relief efforts.
01:31:15 We heard from Kevin Watkins earlier in the program,
01:31:18 also at Save the Children there.
01:31:19 [JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #DEBT4DEV] So if you missed that, be sure to watch it back, it was a great conversation.
01:31:22 And we finally have Sani from Nigeria on Twitter,
01:31:24 and he was saying, he's interested in A long-term overhaul
01:31:26 to solve Africa's debt crisis.
01:31:28 So great to see all this conversation on Twitter,
01:31:31 but it's also happening on LinkedIn.
01:31:32 So tell me a bit about what's happening there.
01:31:35 For sure, we heard from Elizabeth Irungu.
01:31:38 She is a financial analyst from Kenya.
01:31:40 She commented that the uncertainty around eight to five jobs has been magnified
01:31:43 by the pandemic, meaning kind of our everyday jobs.
01:31:46 And she was saying that investing wisely
01:31:48 will reduce overdependence on salary loans.
01:31:50 We know how she probably voted in the poll, making wise investments,
01:31:53 saving for the future like you there.
01:31:56 And then we also heard from Akil, a senior accountant in Ethiopia,
01:32:00 and they wrote that making wise investments is the best choice,
01:32:03 especially for import dependent countries.
01:32:05 So it really was the top vote.
01:32:06 It does sound like it for sure.
01:32:08 Well, we really love seeing all this conversation
01:32:11 happening on our social platforms
01:32:13 and hope it continues for the next couple of days,
01:32:15 but now let's go to our second country spotlight.
01:32:18 [COUNTRY SPOTLIGHT ON BENIN] And for this we're headed to Benin.
01:32:20 That's right, and it's from the capital city of Porto-Novo
01:32:22 that I recently spoke to country director, Atou Seck.
01:32:25 And I started by asking him about the challenges
01:32:27 that everyday Beninese face when it comes to climate and COVID-19.
01:32:31 [ATOU SECK; COUNTRY MANAGER, BENIN] Benin's major challenge is job creation, decent job creation,
01:32:39 access to education and health services,
01:32:41 as well as water and electricity.
01:32:45 So there are also climate related challenges,
01:32:48 including coastal erosion and also deforestation
01:32:53 that affect communities' livelihoods.
01:32:56 You mentioned there some of the climate challenges.
01:32:58 Can you talk to me about the West Africa Coastal Areas Management System,
01:33:03 and specifically, I understand that Benin has a 121 kilometer-long coastline.
01:33:09 How does the project, the Areas Management program affect that coastline?
01:33:16 You may know that Benin coastal zone is extremely vulnerable.
01:33:22 It is exposed to the highest risk of coastal erosion in the Gulf of Guinea.
01:33:27 Erosion can reach up to 15 meters per year here.
01:33:34 The country also is exposed to heavy rain and floods.
01:33:39 So, for example, in 2018 there was a flood
01:33:45 that would have affected 54 villages amongst the river, Mono river.
01:33:53 So Waka provided funds for emergency protection work
01:33:58 to stabilize the river bank.
01:34:02 Thanks to which more than 25,000 vulnerable people
01:34:08 living along the river were protected from being flooded.
01:34:14 And I understand your climate portfolio, isn't limited to the coast.
01:34:17 You're also doing work on Benin's timber resources.
01:34:22 Can you tell us a little bit about that?
01:34:23 Benin natural forest harvested in an uncontrolled manner.
01:34:31 For timber but also for fuel wood.
01:34:36 Eighty-five percent of the people, population depend on wood
01:34:40 and charcoal for their cooking needs.
01:34:44 And furthermore natural forests are harvested for timber,
01:34:49 to make furniture or for export.
01:34:53 As a result Benin lost over 215,000 hectares between 2016 and 2017.
01:35:03 So to reduce this human pressure on natural forests,
01:35:08 we finance the kind of forest management project
01:35:13 that is investing in large scale forest plantation
01:35:17 as an alternative to the use of natural forest for fuel wood and timber.
01:35:23 The aim is to establish 22,000 hectares of fuel wood and timber plantation
01:35:31 To contribute to the much needed wood energy demand
01:35:35 in big cities, such as Cotonou, Abomey-Calavi, and Porto-Novo.
01:35:41 Fantastic, and just to shift gears here a little bit,
01:35:44 it's 2021, we're a year into the COVID-19 pandemic.
01:35:47 I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about that
01:35:49 and ask about the situation in Benin.
01:35:52 Tell me what does a resilient recovery from COVID-19
01:35:55 look like in the context of Benin?
01:35:59 You must learn from this crisis
01:36:01 and see it as an opportunity to build a better world.
01:36:06 It has not been easy for any human being around the globe
01:36:12 and even worse for the most vulnerable people.
01:36:16 This is definitely a new world now,
01:36:19 and we need to pay more attention to nature
01:36:22 and be more careful with climate crisis.
01:36:24 We have been alarmed how deforestation, for example,
01:36:27 is bringing the wildlife closer to human beings
01:36:31 and how we can work to avoid diseases such as COVID-19.
01:36:38 So this is in my opinion, how sustainable recovery...
01:36:42 What it will look like in the years to come.
01:36:45 Just to wrap up on a lighter note, for those of us who might not be familiar
01:36:49 with you or the country of Benin,
01:36:51 talk to us about the best part of working there
01:36:53 and what inspires you in your job.
01:36:55 I'm really energized working daily with dedicated professionals in Cotonou
01:37:02 and in the bank ecosystem and with clients.
01:37:08 These people are working relentlessly.
01:37:11 Every single bank or bank staff must keep in mind
01:37:16 that our mission is to serve people.
01:37:19 I feel privileged to lead such a talented team
01:37:25 that is more virtual now and dedicated also.
01:37:30 I think I would agree with you on that.
01:37:31 I think part of the best part of working here is all the great people.
01:37:35 But Atou Seck, country manager for Benin,
01:37:37 thank you so much for taking the time this morning.
01:37:39 Thank you very much, it was a pleasure having the conversation with you.
01:37:44 [MONTELÍBANO, COLOMBIA] Hola, I am Jairo Hidoya in Montelíbano Columbia,
01:37:46 and you're watching the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meetings.
01:37:52 Well, it's time to wind down for the day,
01:37:54 but before we say goodbye,
01:37:55 Paul, what can folks expect tomorrow and the day after?
01:37:57 So it's hard to believe, but two days down, two more to go.
01:38:00 We're halfway through the public events of the Spring Meetings 2021.
01:38:04 Tomorrow, the focus turns to climate
01:38:07 and on Friday, the focus turns to vaccines.
01:38:09 If anyone missed any of the programming yesterday,
01:38:12 if you tuned in late today, or you want to watch anything back
01:38:15 you can do so on the World Bank's YouTube channel.
01:38:17 [JOIN US TOMORROW: LIVE.WORLDBANK.ORG] Be sure to subscribe while you're there.
01:38:18 But all the events will be there including our live discussions
01:38:22 that come off the back of them.
01:38:24 And I should also mention that tomorrow's live discussion,
01:38:27 you'll be moderating that
01:38:28 with Mari Pangestu and Stephanie von Friedeburg all about climate.
01:38:31 So get those questions in, live.worldbank.org.
01:38:34 Get them in tonight, this afternoon.
01:38:36 And we'll get some of these questions to Mari and Stephanie tomorrow.
01:38:39 Yeah, I think it's gonna be a great conversation, looking forward to it.
01:38:42 Thank you, Paul.
01:38:43 Of course, thank you, Sri.
01:38:44 And thank you everyone for joining us today,
01:38:46 and please do join us tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., Washington, DC time
01:38:50 for our event on climate.
01:38:52 Until then goodbye.
01:39:00 [UPBEAT MUSIC]

Read the chat

Torie Smith

Hello everyone, and welcome to Rethinking Debt: Financing the Future Amid Crisis.

Wed, 04/07/2021 - 11:41

Torie Smith

While we wait for the event to begin, learn more about the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), which will be a key topic of today’s discussion. Since it took effect on May 1, 2020, the initiative has delivered roughly $5 billion in relief to more than 40 eligible countries.

Wed, 04/07/2021 - 11:42

Musa. Kelleh

Hi I'm musa from Liberia thanks for everything

Wed, 04/07/2021 - 11:55

vasa

Ukraine here

Wed, 04/07/2021 - 11:55

Ismaila A. Hassan

Hello from Jigawa in Nigeria.

Wed, 04/07/2021 - 12:00

2021 Spring Meetings

Watch the full replays of the Spring Meetings 2021 World Bank Group public events

April 6th - Economic Recovery: Toward a Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Future
April 7th - Rethinking Debt: Financing the Future Amid Crisis
April 8th - Key Green Transitions for People and Planet
April 9th - COVID-19: Vaccines for Developing Countries

Speakers

David R. Malpass

Former President, World Bank Group

@DavidMalpassWBG
Carmen M. Reinhart

Former Senior Vice President and World Bank Group Chief Economist, Development Economics

@carmenmreinhart
Julie Monaco

Managing Director, Citi
Vera Esperança dos Santos Daves De Sousa

Finance Minister, Angola
Kevin Watkins

Chief Executive, Save the Children

@KevinAtSave
K.Y. Amoako

President of the African Center for Economic Transformation

@KYAmoako

Moderator

Paul Blake

External Affairs Officer, World Bank Group

@PaulNBlake

Watch More Events on Debt

Replay

March 19, 2021

Corporate Debt in Developing Countries

Resilient Recovery Series: Dealing with Debt

Replay

July 16, 2020

Dealing with Debt

Replay

October 13, 2020

Defusing Debt - Creating Comprehensive Solutions

Replay

February 10, 2020

Development and Debt in Lower-Income Economies