The G20 expert group on strengthening multilateral development banks (MDBs), such as the World Bank, has been constituted and given until June 30 to submit its report.
The group, co-chaired by former US Secretary of Treasury Larry Summers and India's NK Singh, chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, will have seven other members, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on March 28.
The other members of the expert group are:
>> Tharman Shanmugarathnam: Senior Minister, Government of Singapore
>> Maria Ramos: Former director-general of the National Treasury of South Africa
>> Arminio Fraga: Former governor, Central Bank of Brazil
>> Nicholas Stern: IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, London School of Economics
>> Justin Yifu Lin: Former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank
>> Rachel Kyte: Former vice president of World Bank
>> Vera Songwe: Former executive secretary, Economic Commission for Africa
The decision to set up the expert group was taken last month in the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Bengaluru.
According to the Indian government statement, the expert group will have to draw up a roadmap for an "updated MDB ecosystem for the 21st century" so that these institutions are better equipped to finance a wide range of sustainable development goals and global challenges such as climate change and health.
The expert group will also have to evaluate the funding required by and from multilateral development banks to address their and member countries' increased financing needs. Further, mechanisms for coordination among these institutions will have to be worked upon to address and finance global development and other challenges more effectively, the government said.
India, even before it assumed the presidency of the G20 in late 2022, had repeatedly called for reforming multilateral development banks, saying they faced existential questions.
"Do they want to unlock the potential they have better? And therefore, multilateral institutions, particularly financing (ones), will be a matter of debate," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had commented in November.
