Reducing poverty and hitting global net zero goals are being hindered by the severe debt burdens on poor countries, the president of the World Bank has said, amid growing concern that high interest rates could cause dozens of countries to default.
Ajay Banga, the new head of the Washington-based body, urged faster progress in providing debt relief but said there was no magic wand that could be waved to make the problem go away, at a press conference at the Banks annual meeting in Marrakech.
Indermit Gill, the World Banks chief economist, said the last time the Federal Reserve had raised interest rates as aggressively as it had recently was more than 40 years ago, and the result was that 24 countries went bankrupt.
Their comments came as the…
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