1. We held our ninety-eighth meeting in Washington, D.C. on October 12,
2017 with Abraham Tekeste, Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation of
Ethiopia as Chair, Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Finance and Mass Media
of Sri Lanka as First Vice-Chair, and Julio Velarde, Governor of the
Central Bank of Peru as Second Vice-Chair.
Managing the Impact of Developments in the Global Economy
2. We welcome the increasing momentum in global growth, trade and
investment. Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) will continue
to account for the bulk of global growth. Commodity prices are stabilizing,
providing commodity exporters the opportunity to continue undertaking
reforms, rebuild buffers, further diversify their economies and stimulate
growth. We remain concerned about the medium-term downside risks, which
include a potential increase in protectionism, sudden tightening of global
financial conditions, roll back of regulatory reforms, and geopolitical
risks. International cooperation and policy coordination in key areas are
essential to minimize adverse spillovers on growth and financial markets.
Multilateral commitment is necessary to maintain an open, rules-based
trading system.
3. The IMF is central to the Global Financial Safety Net. We encourage
greater cooperation between the IMF and the Regional Financial
Arrangements. We welcome the ongoing review of the IMF’s toolkit, including
possible new instruments, to meet adequately the liquidity and
precautionary needs of its member countries and look forward to its early
conclusion. We call for evenhanded surveillance and lending decisions, and
for the extension of the mandate of the IMF’s Evenhandedness Committee to
include the Fund’s lending activities. More work is needed to address and
minimize the stigma attached to IMF’s facilities. We support further work
to broaden the role and use of the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) as a
reserve currency.
4. In the 2018 review of the IMF’s Facilities for Low-Income Countries
(LICs), we support a more comprehensive engagement with LICs. This includes
substantially expanding the resources of the Poverty Reduction and Growth
Trust (PRGT), increasing access commensurate with countries’ needs, and
introducing a precautionary instrument for LICs.
5. We welcome the IMF’s review of country experiences in addressing
systemic risks arising from volatile capital flows. We call for a fair
assessment of the intent, content and design of macro-prudential and
capital flow management measures available to and used by countries to deal
with capital flow volatility.
6. We call for all countries to implement the Intended Nationally
Determined Contributions under the Paris Climate Agreement, reflecting the
principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, in light of
country-specific circumstances and in the context of poverty reduction and
sustainable development. Extreme weather events have substantial adverse
human and economic consequences in developing countries, in particular LICs
and small island states, which have contributed very little to climate
change. We call for a strong global response to the recent devastating
hurricanes that hit the Caribbean. We call for supporting the efforts of
developing countries to cope with and build resilience to climate-related
natural disasters. We look forward to developed countries delivering on
their commitment to provide US$100 billion per year new and additional
financial resources by 2020 to support developing countries’ climate
actions. We urge them to authorize the use of reflows to enhance financing
from the Clean Technology Funds.
7. We urge continued support from International Financial Institutions
(IFIs) and the international community to developing countries that are
disproportionately affected by the refugee crisis, including internally
displaced populations, and encourage the continued pursuit of developmental
approaches to address this serious challenge. We call on IFIs to monitor
and address the macroeconomic and development consequences of tightening
migration regulations in some countries. We call on IFIs to strengthen
their support for conflict affected, fragile, and small states, including
deploying innovative financial instruments and partnerships.
8. While we welcome global efforts against money laundering and financing
of terrorism, we call for more concrete global actions to address the
decline of correspondent banking relationships in some countries. We call
for stronger multilateral cooperation to effectively combat illicit
financial flows.
Building the Foundations for Inclusive Growth
9. Our key objective is to transform our economies to boost growth, improve
job creation and reduce inequality and poverty. Improving productivity and
diversifying our sources of growth are key elements of this agenda. We
support the focus of the African Caucus on agricultural transformation as
an essential driver of job creation and inclusive growth, and the G20
Compact for Africa. We face the continuing challenge of capturing the
benefits of trade and technological change. We call on IFIs to strengthen
their support for human capital development, skill building and labor
market policymaking, in order to foster quality jobs and smooth labor
market adjustments. We ask IFIs to support greater financial inclusion and
economic opportunities for women. We encourage their stepped-up support for
south-south cooperation on trade, knowledge and investments.
10. We urge the IMF and the World Bank Group (WBG) to continue
strengthening their assistance in improving domestic resource mobilization
and enhancing its contribution to inclusive growth through progressive tax
policies, as well as more efficient and better targeted public spending.
Peer learning among emerging market and developing countries (EMDCs)
through collaborative platforms and capacity building through regional
seminars can bring value to this process. We also welcome the work of the
Platform for Collaboration on Tax and look forward to its engagement with
tax officials of EMDCs for enhanced technical assistance. The IMF and the
WBG should also continue to assess the social and distributional impact of
fiscal adjustment programs and ensure that these programs include adequate
social protection measures for the poor.
11. We highlight the importance of effective international tax cooperation
that addresses the challenges faced by EMDCs. We support the Automatic
Exchange of Information initiative and the inclusive framework on Base
Erosion and Profit Shifting, and call for measures for their effective
implementation in EMDCs, mindful of their country-specific circumstances.
We appreciate the work of the UN Tax Committee and encourage multilateral
support to upgrade the Committee to an intergovernmental body. We also call
for more attention to developing fair tax rules to guide the taxation of
multinational corporations and for international cooperation to prevent
harmful international tax competition.
12. We reiterate the importance of scaling up infrastructure investments to
achieve our sustainable development goals. We welcome the support of the
IMF, WBG, and other IFIs in increasing the efficiency of public investments
in infrastructure, as well as their impact in improving connectivity,
including at the regional level, and addressing distributional and climate
objectives. Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) need to activate
financing approaches to make renewable energy affordable. We underscore the
key role of MDBs in supporting policy and institutional frameworks,
strengthening project preparation and catalyzing private sector financing.
In this regard, we welcome the WBG’s focus on maximizing financing for
development, and look forward to its effective implementation at the
country level. We call on MDBs to deliver on their Joint Declaration of
Aspirations on Actions to Support Infrastructure Investments, including
through concrete and time-bound actions, to develop new risk mitigation
instruments and infrastructure investment as an asset class.
13. We welcome the reform of the Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability
Framework for LICs. We stress the importance of providing the necessary
time for, and support to, country authorities to prepare and ensure
readiness to implement the new framework. It is essential for the debt
sustainability assessments to consider the quality of public investments
and the significant impact of reducing infrastructure gaps on growth.
14. We support the strengthening of the work and collaboration between the
WBG and the IMF, based on their expertise and mandates, in supporting
countries’ efforts to improve governance and tackle corruption
comprehensively. We note the IMF’s review of its role in addressing
governance and corruption issues at the country level in an evenhanded
manner.
Reforming the Governance of the Bretton Woods Institutions
15. We support a quota-based, adequately-resourced IMF that is less
dependent on borrowed resources. We call for at least maintaining the
current lending capacity of the IMF. We look forward to the completion of
the 15th General Review of Quotas, including a new quota formula, by the
Spring Meetings of 2019 and no later than the Annual Meetings of 2019. We
call for a revised formula that emphasizes greater weight of GDP PPP within
the GDP blend and further shifts quota shares from advanced economies to
dynamic EMDCs, reflecting their growing weight in the global economy, while
protecting the quota share of the poorest countries. The realignment of
quota shares must not come at the expense of other EMDCs. We reiterate our
longstanding call for a third Chair for Sub-Saharan Africa to enhance the
voice and representation of the region, provided that it does not come at
the expense of other EMDCs’ Chairs.
16. For the World Bank, we call for a Shareholding Review that upholds the
Istanbul Principles to achieve equitable voting power between developed and
developing and transition countries (DTCs) and produces an outcome that has
broad support from the membership. We call for its successful conclusion by
the Spring Meetings of 2018. It is essential to enhance and safeguard the
financial strength of IBRD and IFC, including through capital increases,
further balance sheet optimization, and review of financial transfers. We
urge the WBG to put robust measures in place to ensure the effective
implementation of IDA18 by the time of the mid-term review.
17. We call for strengthening the efforts of the IMF and the WBG towards
greater representation of under-represented regions and countries in
recruitment and career progression, including at managerial levels. We
reiterate the importance of staff diversity and gender balance at all
levels, including diversity of educational institutions and backgrounds.
Other Matters
18. We welcome Kenya and Ecuador as new members of the Group.
19. We thank Ethiopia for its Chairmanship of the Group and welcome Sri
Lanka as the incoming Chair. We also welcome Ghana as the Second
Vice-Chair. The next meeting of the G-24 Ministers is expected to take
place on April 19, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
[1]
Ministers of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International
Monetary Affairs and Development held their ninety-eighth meeting in
Washington D.C. on October 12, 2017 with Abraham Tekeste, Minister of
Finance and Economic Cooperation of Ethiopia in the Chair; Mangala
Samaraweera, Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka, serving as First Vice-Chair;
and Julio Velarde, Governor of the Central Bank of Peru as Second
Vice-Chair.
The meeting of the Ministers was preceded on October 11, 2017 by the one
hundred and tenth meeting of the Deputies of the Group of Twenty-Four, with
Fisseha Aberra, Director of the International Cooperation Directorate at
the Ministry of Finance of Ethiopia, as Chair.
African Group
: Abderrahmane Raouya, Algeria; Mutombo M. Nyembo Deogratias, Democratic
Republic of Congo; Adama Koné, Côte d’Ivoire; Sahar Nasr, Egypt; Teklewold
Atnafu, Ethiopia; Regis Immongault, Gabon; Kenneth Ofori-Atta, Ghana;
Patrick Njoroge, Kenya; Mohamed Taamouti, Morocco; Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria;
Sfiso Buthelezi, South Africa.
Asian Group
: Subir Gokarn, India; Gholamali Kamyab, Islamic Republic of Iran; Alain
Bifani, Lebanon; Shahid Mahmood, Pakistan; Maria Edita Tan, Philippines;
Mangala Samaraweera, Sri Lanka; Maya Choueiri, Syria Arab Republic.
Latin American Group
: Nicolás Dujovne, Argentina; Erivaldo Gomes, Brazil; Jose Antonio Ocampo,
Colombia; Francisco Rivadeneira, Ecuador; Oscar Monterroso, Guatemala; Jean
B. Dubois, Haiti; Gerardo Zuniga, Mexico; Renzo Rossini, Peru; Alvin
Hilaire, Trinidad and Tobago; Jose A. Rojas Ramirez, Venezuela.
Observers
: Abdulrahman Al Hamidy, Arab Monetary Fund; Zhenyu Lu, China; Inés
Bustillo, ECLAC; Deborah Greenfield, ILO; Suleiman Al-Herbish, OFID; Ayed
S. Al-Qahtani, OPEC; Naif Alghaith, Saudi Arabia; Manuel F. Montes, South
Centre; Mubarak Al Mansoori, United Arab Emirates; Richard Kozul‑Wright,
UNCTAD; Alexander Trepelkov, UNDESA.
Special Guests
: Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Kristalina Georgieva, Chief Executive Officer, World Bank
G-24 Secretariat
: Marilou Uy, Aldo Caliari, Shichao Zhou, Alida Uwera, Lana Bleik
IMF Secretariat for the G-24
: Marushia Gislén, Rasheeda Smith Yee, Danny Xufeng Jiang, Aric Maiden
[1]
Persons who sat at the discussion table.