‘US wants to ensure concrete outcomes in areas that India wants to deliver’

INTERNATIONAL DESK:
How do you see the atmosphere at the Sherpas meeting?

It has been really encouraging and India’s leadership has been very strong. The US came with a very strong desire to make sure that the G20 is a success this year. We are very excited about the agenda that India has laid out with the focus on development, focus on SDGs (sustainable development goals), focus on climate and the focus on green and all of those addressing the real challenges being faced by the world right now including developing and emerging markets. Being able to work together and deliver at the G20 successfully is important. It’s our view that you can’t separate what is happening in Ukraine from the challenges that the global economy faces.

How do you react to the criticism that the US is triggering challenges for the emerging and developing economies by raising interest rates and the possible contagion effects of the collapse of banks there?

It is very clear that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has negatively impacted the global inflation, it has increased the challenges coming out of Covid-19 and it has really contributed to where we have got to in terms of inflation and subsequent consequences in terms of impact on developing economies, emerging markets. While it is really important for the world that we make sure that the US economy is stable, we also acknowledge that the current environment is very difficult in emerging markets and developing economies. That’s why it is important what G20 can do to support these economies, support their financing, their food security and health. We are very committed to using the G20 as a forum to really address some of those issues.

How do you deal with the challenge of reworking the multilateral financial architecture? There is also demand to reworking the votes shares.

Its very clear that the World Bank and the other multilateral development banks can be doing more than they are currently doing in terms of supporting both developing countries, low-income and also middle income countries. The traditional model that the World Bank and multilateral development banks (MDBs) use, which is very focussed on the challenges within a country are not always suitable. We need to do more to make sure that the World Bank and other MDBs are able to handle these cross-border challenges.

We also need to address concerns that some borrowing countries have on operational difficulties. We are hoping to see those changes, we are hoping to see a change in the World Bank’s mandate from just being poverty reduction and shared prosperity to also being build resilience. We are looking at ways both within the existing envelope and then think about additional ways to make sure that resources available are greater. It is very important that we start with the reforms and we start with fully utilising the capital that these institutions already have. We need to demonstrate that the World Bank and other MDBs can fully utilise the balance sheets they have in an effective way before we turn to the question of additional resources.

How confident are you that India will be able to come with a full communique at the G20 leaders summit, leaving aside the issue of the war in Ukraine?

First, the US is very committed to the success of India’s G20 presidency. We are doing everything we can to make that successful and make sure that we have concrete outcomes in the areas that India wants to deliver. We don’t have control over Russia and China, who have decided to walk away from consensus language and that’s been an incredible disappointment to us. We worked very hard to try to bridge differences and make compromises at the Bali language, we are very very willing to stick by the language that we agreed on. We are willing to keep that compromise and we have not walked away, and neither have the 18 other countries that signed up to that language. (TOI)