The World Bank Group is committed to continue its annual assistance of $3-5 billion to India for the next four years, its President Jim Yong Kim has said.
Winding up his three-day visit to India, Kim said India is a good investment and that the World Bank Group would deepen its engagement with the country.
This is Kim’s first visit to India as World Bank Group President.
“We will try to match our engagement with the priorities of the Government. One priority clearly communicated by the leadership in India is that we need to focus on low-income States. That is why I went to Uttar Pradesh,” Kim said at a press conference here on Wednesday.
NOT PRO RICH OR PRO MNC:
Kim asserted that the World Bank Group was not working for the interests of the rich or the multinational enterprises.
“I have not seen many institutions as the World Bank Group that has evolved so much. This is not your father’s World Bank group that you see today,” Kim said in response to a query on an opinion here that World Bank was pro-rich, pro-MNCs and anti-poor.
Kim said there was a need for the World Bank to focus on economic growth. “Economic growth is critical. Without economic growth you cannot get people out of poverty,” he said.
PRODUCTIVE DISCUSSIONS
Kim said he had productive discussions about the country’s development priorities with several Indian leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Kim said there was need to end poverty in Uttar Pradesh and in all States in India and this would be one of the central long-term goals for the World Bank here.
“There is lot to do in Uttar Pradesh. We have to create more jobs there. As we continue to engage in States like Uttar Pradesh, we will be able to capture those lessons and spread them to other States in India and other parts of the world,” Kim said.
MDG TARGET
Kim also said that World Bank will work seriously between now and 2015 to ensure that India and all other countries make progress on millennium development goals (MDG).
“I am not giving up. We have 1,000 days before the deadline (for achieving MDG) is up,” Kim said.
India represents the World Bank Group’s largest client. Between 2009 and 2013, the Group lent around $26 billion to India. This includes a one-year high of $11 billion in 2009-10 when World Bank group support to India spiked after the 2008 financial crisis.