Maintaining the growth momentum, a major challenge for developing countries: Sitharaman

“As the global economy strives to gain and maintain its recovery momentum, divergences remain between and within economies and sectors due to lack of policy space and pre-existing loopholes,” Sitharaman said during of a G20 conference organized by the New Delhi-based think tank. ICRIER for the Indian presidency in 2023.

Sitharaman said the G20 is not only working to recover from the current crisis, but has also started work on strengthening preparedness and response for a future pandemic. “In doing so, we continue to work on long-term reform programs such as facilitating advanced and functional infrastructure, especially inclusive and digital infrastructure, channeling funding to achieve sustainable development goals, and strengthening long-term financial resilience and favorable inclusive growth, ”she added. .

However, Sitharaman warned that the future work of the G20 will be difficult. “We have just entered the most transformative decade of this era. At this point, the role of the G20 in expressing the concerns of those who are most vulnerable and affected in this multilateral political space will be tested. In some cases, international discourse may be subject to increasing polarization. In the future, at the G20, we will have to be more proactive to achieve inclusive, fair and equitable results, ”she said.

The finance minister said India’s 2023 G20 presidency provides an excellent platform for India to express its vision for a future that reflects sustainability, inclusiveness, innovation and justice. “The themes and priorities that India places before the G20 must reflect the issues on which advanced and emerging market economies can work together, allowing the G20 to play a more constructive role in the global political discourse, to reaffirm cooperation multilateral, to ensure that multilateralism leads to the expansion of opportunities as well as to give direction to the G20 to reach out to the global community beyond the members of the G20 and work towards realistic ambitions “, a- she added.

Additionally, Sitharaman said India is working to identify areas of vacuum in international policy coordination. “This could be in the area of ​​building resilience or reforming long-awaited systems or creating new effective global institutions or even strengthening the mandate, reach and effectiveness of existing institutions such as the FATF and the IMF, ”she said.

India would also like to continue some legacy work in finance and tackle new topics that will be relevant in 2023, Sitharaman said. “The needs of the post-covid world will have to be taken into account. I also anticipate that two pillar solutions on international tax issues would reach an advanced stage of implementation for India to pilot. Likewise, the G20 might also want to consider how the plan to make cross-border payments easier, faster and cheaper is progressing, ”she added.

Speaking at the event, G20 Commerce Minister and Sherpa Piyush Goyal said he will promote Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of one land, one health. “Reform of the multilateral system such as the WTO is also a priority for the G20 countries and India is playing an important role in working to resolve some of these conflicts. We believe that we must strengthen global institutions such as World Bank, WTO, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and we must all work for a better future of these organizations. We will all work on this common agenda, creating synergies with like-minded partner countries to bring about a strong future agenda for all G20 countries, be it climate action, food security, energy sufficiency, transparency and honest rules based trading systems around the world, ”he added.