G24 backs expert group's reform proposals for multilateral banks

The G24, or the grouping of 24 countries including Brazil, Kenya, Argentina, Tuesday strongly backed reform of multilateral development banks as suggested by the Independent Expert Group report.

The IEG, headed by 15th finance commission chairman N K Singh and former treasury secretary Larry Summers, presented the second volume of their report to the G24 here. "A detailed presentation was made to G24 on the report," a person familiar with the deliberations said. The meeting was attended by International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank president Ajay Banga.

The IEG has suggested that MDBs triple the pipeline of bankable projects and work to ensure its conversion to strong deal flow through stepped-up support, along with bilateral donors, to the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) and through allocations of their own budgets on a reimbursable basis from the project implementer.