The managing director of the International Monetary Fund(IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, said on Wednesday that the world economy has weathered the crises better than expected, but warned that low-income countries had underperformed.
"The world economy is doing better today than we feared a year ago, growth is holding up, inflation is falling and the expectation that we will get through this stage of high inflation without recession, the so-called 'soft landing', will also translate into better conditions for low-income countries," Georgieva pointed out.
However, she added, the impact of the pandemic and other shocks, such as the war in Ukraine, "is felt more deeply" in poor countries.
"Our analysis shows that the fear that shocks generate in advanced economies and emerging market economies is less than we feared, but the fear in low-income countries is greater than we expected," she explained.
Georgieva participated with the president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, in a forum held in Washington to analyze what low-income countries can do to foster macroeconomic stability, promote sustainable and inclusive growth and unlock progress towards the sustainable development goals.
According to Georgieva, the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of low-income countries is now 10% lower than projected before the pandemic and most have "high levels of debt" that consume "13% of GDP".
"What particularly worries me is that, given that growth is slow, their chances of recovery are worsening," said Georgieva.
The World Bank president said that, for these countries, paying off the debt means postponing improvements in "health and education", for example.
The IMF and the World Bank are holding their spring meetings the week of April 15, at which the challenges facing low-income countries will be one of the central themes.
