Devex quoted Eric LeCompte in an article highlighting what to watch for in the upcoming World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meeting. Read an excerpt below and the full article here.
5 things to watch at the World Bank-IMF annual meetings
By Shabtai Gold
Starting Monday, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are holding their annual meetings — under the shadow of a scandal around the bank’s Doing Business publication, which has embroiled IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva and threatens the credibility of both institutions.
The timing of the crisis — with IMF’s board conducting a probe on Georgieva, its managing director and a former chief executive at the World Bank — could distract from the core work of the gatherings, which will see attendees participating in person and virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eric LeCompte, the executive director at Jubilee USA Network, which advocates for debt relief, said he is watching the meetings in Washington for signs that the world’s wealthiest countries will commit more to financing the vaccine rollout.
“The G-20 failed over the summer to solve the financing issue,” he said, referring to the group of industrial and emerging-market nations. “We are at a point now where the G-20 is really in a make-or-break moment.” The group will see its finance ministers meet during the World Bank-IMF event, and its leaders will hold high-level talks at the end of the month in Italy.
LeCompte said he worries that if the World Bank and IMF meetings don’t spur governments into action now, the rollout will suffer further delays, potentially derailing WHO’s goal of vaccinating 70% of each nation’s population by the middle of next year.
Read more here.