NewsRescue
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for an overhaul of international financial institutions, claiming that poor countries are currently being denied the resources they require to thrive.
Modi stated in a video message to G20 development ministers on Monday that the Covid-19 pandemic had taken a heavy toll on the Global South, and that geopolitical conflicts had also hampered the provision of food, fuel, and fertilizers.
In this context, a number of emerging countries have found themselves plagued by rising debt and stagnant economies, the Indian prime minister noted.
Global financial institutions, according to Modi, should loosen their rules to ensure that money are made available to countries experiencing economic distress.
“We must ensure that no one is left behind,” emphasized the Indian leader.
Modi also mentioned India’s own experience of improving economic conditions in more than 100 “aspirational districts” that were formerly among the country’s poorest.
He claimed that these places have now become growth accelerators as a result of a government effort.
The G20 Expert Group on Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) is actively studying measures to expand institutions’ lending capability.
Furthermore, Modi stressed the critical role that digitalization and technology have had in improving India’s economic status.
Last month, India’s prime minister asked for UN reforms, arguing that the international institution has lost its effectiveness in conflict prevention.
Modi told G7 leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, that “institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the twenty-first century,” since they no longer “reflect the realities of the present.”
The Prime Minister believes that the nations in the Global South should be granted more clout in the UN Security Council.
