Development Minister Schulze also wants to turn the World Bank into a climate protection bank
Food security and global challenges such as climate risks are “two sides of the same coin”, says Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD)
Quelle: pa/photothek/Ute Grabowsky
The World Bank is given new tasks under new management: it is no longer only to fight poverty, but also to grant cheap loans for climate protection and species protection projects. The Federal Development Minister speaks of a ātransformation bankā. There could also be losers.
Dhe first decision was made before the spring conference of the World Bank began in Washington: Ajay Banga will be the new head of the institution, which is supported by 189 countries. The Indian-born American is still only a nominee, but since there is no opposing candidate, it is clear that Banga will succeed incumbent President David Malpass in the summer.
The hopes associated with the 63-year-old are high. Banga is to realign the bank, which was initially founded after the Second World War to help rebuild Europe: its task should no longer be solely to combat poverty, which has been the focus since the 1960s, but also to issue cheap loans for climate and species protection.
“Our goal must be a true transformation bank,” says Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) in a statement of demands on the occasion of the spring conference that begins on Monday, which is available to WELT AM SONNTAG. Food security and global challenges such as climate risks are “two sides of the same coin”.
Schulze expects concrete and innovative proposals from the management of the World Bank Group on how the various instruments of the development bank can be adapted to the “true economic, ecological and social costs”.
Poorer countries have long been calling for a reform of the World Bank. In the previous year, representatives of important industrialized countries also swung to the line, above all the Americans. You are the largest shareholder and thus the financier of the World Bank, more precisely the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the heart of the group.
Ajay Banga, ex-Mastercard boss, becomes the new World Bank president
Those: pa/newscom/Ting Shen
As the fourth-largest shareholder, Germany also supports the realignment, which is to be decisively advanced in the next few days and, if possible, decided at the next meeting in October. “We need a binding, concrete and clear timetable for the adoption of a ‘Marrakesh Consensus’ for the reforms at the annual meeting in Morocco this autumn,” writes Schulze. She knows that the time window for such a fundamental restructuring of the World Bank is not open indefinitely.
In the end, the reform is primarily about the question of how the World Bank can finance not only the old but also the new tasks. In the poorest countries in particular, there is concern that they are not given sufficient consideration when climate protection measures are promoted with particularly cheap loans. In the Sahel zone, for example, only a few COā emissions can be saved because energy consumption is low there. In emerging countries such as India or Indonesia, the effect on the global climate is much greater.
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To ensure that no one is neglected, there are concrete suggestions as to how the World Bank can provide more loans without losing its very good AAA rating. A panel of experts on behalf of the large industrialized and emerging countries had already determined last year that the development bank could be a little more willing to take risks overall. In the meantime, this is also the unanimous opinion within the federal government. “The financial capacity of the multilateral development banks must be strengthened,” said Schulze. For example, Germany supports the proposal that loans would have to be backed with less equity in the future.
Another group should bring even greater leverage for investments in climate protection: private investors. This is also a reason why Ajay Banga has a lot of support from the members of the World Bank. As the ex-boss of the credit card giant Mastercard, he is said to have the best connections in the financial world.
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