Need to have roadmap for concrete reforms in multilateral development banks: Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman. Pic/PTI

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday underscored the need for a roadmap for reforms of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to deal with the growing needs of emerging economies. "The Bretton Woods institutions should not allow themselves to have a 'Mission Drift' and should address it. IMF resources will have to be available for all countries," Sitharaman said during a panel discussion organised by the Centre for Global Development. The minister arrived here on Tuesday afternoon to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The Bretton Woods Institutions are the IMF and the World Bank Group, established in 1944 at a conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in the US. "We need to have a roadmap for concrete reform-based steps to be initiated. We started it during our G20 Presidency after a lot of thinking and introspection. A shift in thinking of Bretton Woods institutions to meet the needs of the next decade is absolutely necessary," she said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi once said India's priority is not to impose its dominance, she said, adding that India has followed the policy of strategic and peaceful multilateralism and the country has always stood in favour of multilateral institutions. Multilateral institutions should focus on their core competencies and strengthen themselves for the global good, she said.

"Shaping the future is one very ambitious goal which we need to follow and we need to have Bretton Woods institutions work on that," she said. Pointing towards the slow and lengthy process adopted by the IMF, the minister said that much before the IMF reaches some countries in the neighbourhood in times of distress, India has given sums of money with no conditions attached. "We have extended 'Line of Credit' at highly discounted rates to many African countries for building their institutions, bridges, railway stations, ports and secretariats. We will continue to do it because we think the Global South is with us, we want to be with them and help them," she said. Ownership doesn't only come with just quantum of money being given, she said, adding that it can also come when decisions are made in consultations, when decisions can be transparent and made to benefit the recipient and not so uni-focused on the donor.

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