Capacity building the need of the hour: Eran

State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne, speaking at the G-24 Ministers and Governors meeting held on 19 April ahead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG) spring meetings in Washington, said that there was a risk from growing debt vulnerabilities in many countries, particularly in low income countries.

Wickramaratne opined that building capacity for public debt and liability management – the theme of the recent Technical Group Meeting held in Colombo in February this year – is a matter of priority for many developing countries who are members of the G-24 Group.

“We recognise the importance of putting in place policies to reduce debt vulnerabilities, and also look forward to hearing the perspectives of the WB and the IMF on supportive multilateral responses,” said Wickramaratne, drawing the attention of the gathering.



The Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development (G-24) met in Washington D.C. under the chairmanship of Sri Lankan State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne. The G-24 meeting was held ahead of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG). The meeting was also addressed by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva.

From left: World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva, Sri Lankan State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne, and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde

The G-24 Ministers welcomed the recovery of global growth and investment. The importance of sustaining inclusive growth to enhance the resilience of member economies was emphasised as a key priority of the group, and increasing urgency of global cooperation to improve growth prospects of all countries was discussed. At the same time, the Members noted the heightened downside risks which may arise from a potential sharp tightening of financial conditions, further rise in protectionism, and geopolitical tensions.

The Ministers’ concerns revolved around the recent increase in trade restrictions in major economies as a source of significant policy uncertainty, and reiterated the responsibility for working towards an open, rules-based, multilateral, and equitable trading system that benefits the global economy.

The necessity of a strong global financial safety net with an adequately-resourced, quota-based IMF at its centre was discussed at the meeting. 

G-24 urged the continued support from IFIs and the international community to developing countries to face the challenge of serious humanitarian issues occurring through the refugee crises. While welcoming the UN Global Compact on Migration, the Members requested more analytical work to assess the potential macroeconomic and developmental impacts of the tightening of immigration regulations by some countries.

Having concerns over increased risks to debt sustainability in some developing countries and LICs, the Ministers of G-24 requested the IMF and the WBG to increase their assistance on liability management as a matter of priority, and to develop a comprehensive and transparent debt reporting system, while encouraging the IMF to facilitate creditor coordination.

G-24 agreed to urge the IMF and the WBG to continue to strengthen their assistance to improve domestic resource mobilisation, and stressed the importance of international tax cooperation to develop fair rules, avert harmful tax practices and competition, and enhance tax transparency. The Ministers reiterated their call for effective international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows.

The Members welcomed the WBG’s mainstreaming of disaster risk management in its country assistance strategies and its investments in early warning systems. All countries were requested to implement their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Climate Agreement.

It was emphasised that multilateral development banks (MDBs) should contribute more to catalyse deeper private financing and expand infrastructure investments.

The Members agreed that the IBRD and IFC’s Shareholding Reviews should be concluded, upholding the Istanbul Principles to achieve equitable voting power between developed, developing and transition countries, while protecting the voting share of the smallest poor countries, and producing an outcome that has broad support from its members.