Washington: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived in Washington on Sunday to attend the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank and chair the second G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting under the Indian presidency.
During her visit, Sitharaman will also hold meetings with her US counterpart, treasury secretary Janet Yellen, and meet the secretary of commerce, Gina Raimondo. She will speak on the prospects for the Indian economy at a policy institute in Washington on Monday, engage with investors at events organised by business chambers, and visit a NASA facility.
She will also participate in public events on digital public infrastructure, implications of crypto assets, empowerment of women as entrepreneurs and leaders, and Lifestyle for Environment (Life) initiative to push for behavioral change to address the climate crisis over the week.
Accompanied by Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das, Sitharaman will take forward the discussions on the finance track of the G20. The first meeting of the finance ministers in Bengaluru failed to come up with a consensus document due to differences over the Ukraine war, but India presented a chair summary and outcome document. In Washington, the G20 meeting will focus on three themes — global economy and international financial architecture; sustainable finance, financial sector and financial inclusion; and international taxation.
The spring meetings come at a crucial time when the IMF has projected a slowdown in global growth over the next five years and flagged the economic costs of geopolitical fragmentation. It is also struggling to deal with the debt crises that has spread across low-income countries, with China refusing to write down loans it has given to countries in distress. Sitharaman will attend the IMF plenary as well as the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, which India co-chairs along with the World Bank and the IMF.
{{/usCountry}}The spring meetings come at a crucial time when the IMF has projected a slowdown in global growth over the next five years and flagged the economic costs of geopolitical fragmentation. It is also struggling to deal with the debt crises that has spread across low-income countries, with China refusing to write down loans it has given to countries in distress. Sitharaman will attend the IMF plenary as well as the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, which India co-chairs along with the World Bank and the IMF.
{{/usCountry}}The World Bank, too, is in the middle of a transition, with this set of meetings being the last for outgoing president, David Malpass. The US has nominated Ajay Banga for the job; as the sole nominee, he is expected to take over later this summer. The leadership shift is happening at a time when the bank is preparing a new “evolution roadmap” to overhaul its mission, operating model and financial resources to take into account new global challenges such as the climate crisis.
Sitharaman will attend the development committee meeting of the bank later this week, where the evolution will be discussed. The finance minister will also meet the G20 expert group on reforming multilateral development banks, co-chaired by veteran Indian economic policymaker and former parliamentarian NK Singh and former US treasury secretary and Harvard economist Larry Summers.