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Congratulations to President Macron and to Rémy Rioux for bringing together public development banks for this Finance in Common Summit.
It takes place during extraordinary times as we strive to overcome the worst recession since the Great Depression.
We have seen massive actions taken by fiscal authorities and by major central banks – and they put a floor under the world economy.
But the road to recovery is going to be steep and we will need massive investments in human and physical capital. The quality of these investments will determine our future.
Public development banks have a major role to play both in helping the recovery and overcoming the vulnerabilities we had prior to the pandemic – like low productivity, low growth, high inequality and a looming climate crisis.
In future, the focus should be to boost growth and make sure that growth is sustainable and inclusive.
Let me make three points about the role of public development banks.
First, public development banks can send an important signal to markets by adopting environmental, social and governance standards and by boosting finance through green bonds and investments in sustainability.
These banks’ collective capacity of over $2 trillion can be deployed in a powerful fashion to help put us on a transformative path to greener and more inclusive growth in the future.
Second, during times of uncertainty public development banks can take more risk and it is important that this is done with strong accountability to the taxpayers, together with strong governance to ensure support goes to high quality investments.
Third, public development banks can help remove barriers for private investments. We know from our analysis that a dollar invested by the public sector can unleash a lot more in private capital, particularly in highly uncertain times. So, it is important to concentrate investments where it matters the most – digital infrastructure, clean energy and investments in the skills of tomorrow.
Let me finish by offering my full support to the policies embraced in today’s joint declaration, through which public development banks make a commitment to sustainable and inclusive development and to ensuring that the 2016 Paris Agreement defines our future.
We are fully aligned with you.
Thank you."
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