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The private sector must get involved in tackling global crises as governments alone as governments alone do not have the multiple trillions of dollars required, Ajay Banga, the President of the World Bank, said on Tuesday.
The worlds’ crises, including climate change and future pandemics, are now intertwined, and that the growing gap between the global north and the global south is worrisome, as people in the south feel left behind when it comes to growth, Banga said during the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh.
“$1 trillion is needed for renewable energy in the emerging markets – for all the challenges, there are many multiple trillions needed,” he said.
Half of the World Bank’s book is in Africa, where the bank is trying to assist with a debt crisis. The World Bank is the biggest source of grand and concession financing for countries in distress, he said.
Asked what would make his life easier at present, Banga answered with “Peace and stability”, then elaborated: “A degree of cooperation among governments to understand what the global south is going through right now.” Referring to Africa, which has land, resources and a youthful population (projected to swell to 1.5 billion people this century), he added, “I think our future depends on them.”
“They have got so many things that could lift the growth, if we don’t harness the energy to make life easier there, than shame on us,” he said.
The bank is working with African countries including Ghana, Ethiopia, Chad, Zambia, who were receiving grants as the only way they could get out of the debt situation they were in due to rising interest rates, he said: “The interest rates are way beyond their capacities.”
“We need to be there with a hand on their back otherwise there is a real problem in the coming decade.”
(Reporting by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Seban Scaria)
