Washington, Oct 15 (IANS) World Bank Group President Ajay Banga will address finance ministers and central bank governors at the closing plenary of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank Annual Meetings, with the bank’s push to create jobs for a fast-growing young workforce expected to be central to his speech.
Banga will speak alongside IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the plenary in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday.
The Annual Meetings, held in Bangkok from October 12 to 18, are focused on “jobs, investment, growth, and practical solutions for development,” the World Bank said.
Banga has made job creation the organising theme of his presidency. Speaking at a panel on artificial intelligence and jobs earlier in the week, he said: “I believe that the Bank’s entire focus has to be on jobs for a very simple reason: 1.2 billion young people in the coming 15 years are going to become 18 years of age.”
He said it was private capital that ultimately created employment. “Governments enable, and the private sector generates between 75% and 85% of jobs in any country,” Banga said.
On Artificial Intelligence, the Indian-American banker has argued that for emerging markets the debate is not about large language models but about practical applications for schools, health systems and small farmers, an approach the bank calls “small AI”.
At a civil society town hall during the meetings, Banga warned that development finance was under strain. “Fiscal space is tighter, debt is higher, aid budgets are under pressure, and as we all know, the cost of energy and the cost of fertiliser is much higher than what it was 6 to 8 months ago,” he said.
“We’ve got to make these limited public resources go much further,” he added, pointing to the bank’s newly launched Philanthropy Hub, unveiled in Bangkok on October 12, as one way to draw in more capital.
India is among the World Bank’s largest borrowers and a major shareholder. Banga, who was born in Pune and educated in India, took charge of the bank in June 2023 after being nominated by the United States.
The speech comes as the IMF this week flagged slowing global growth amid energy-price shocks and high public debt.
Georgieva is also scheduled to speak at the plenary, which is chaired by Carlos Carvallo Spalding, President of the Central Bank of Paraguay.
