Sitharaman participates in 102nd meeting of the World Bank Development Committee plenary

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the 102nd meeting of the World Bank Development Committee Plenary through video conferencing on Friday and said the hard-fought gains in reducing the level of poverty, achieved over a number of years, are at great risk of being lost due to COVID-19.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the 102nd meeting of the World Bank Development Committee Plenary through video conferencing on Friday and said the hard-fought gains in reducing the level of poverty, achieved over a number of years, are at great risk of being lost due to COVID-19. She said developing and developed countries continue to be impacted by COVID-19.

An official release said Sitharaman told the meeting that the government has taken several measures to contain the spread of the pandemic and also to mitigate its social and economic impact. "COVID -19 pandemic which started before our last meeting in April continues to impact the developing and developed countries till date and the hard-fought gains in reducing the level of poverty, achieved over a number of years, are at great risk of being lost," she said.

She said the government has committed $2.03 billion for strengthening health infrastructure in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The minister said that being a responsible member of the global fraternity, India is ready to share its experience and also play a leading role in the South Asian region as part of its `Neighbourhood First' policy.

She said that collective action is the key for an effective response to the pandemic and "welcomed the strong performance in Q4 of FY 2020 wherein World Bank Group has committed $45 billion for COVID-19 response", the release said. (ANI)

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