Statement by the Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Anton Siluanov (Governor for Russia)
- Good afternoon distinguished colleagues, let me welcome you all including our new Governors for Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates. You are welcome.
- Over the last two years, the global economy has faced a series of unprecedented challenges. The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and the global geopolitical crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine and the financial and economic sanctions imposed on Russia has significantly worsened the condition of the global economy. The global economic growth forecast for this year has been reduced by the IMF down to 3.5% of GDP. The excessively soft fiscal and monetary policies that have been pursued in recent years and developed economies have already created the inflation repressions and the sanctions imposed have further exacerbated those, thus leading to new risks and challenges in the economy. This rapid price rise hits mainly the developing nations. In the current environment, the NDB can play an important role in mitigating the impact of the crisis that could include project in such areas as energy and food security, development of transport and logistics infrastructures, and payment and settlement systems. Russia is one of the largest global exporters, we are fully ready to fulfil our contractual obligations in full. However, the ongoing disruptions of supply chains in financial channels have caused problems, we believe that in such a situation the bank does have an opportunity to increase its project activity as some businesses leave the markets. The Bank’s first strategy expires this year. The NDB has managed over a fairly short period of time to succeed significantly, turning from an ambitious idea into a full-fledged multilateral development institution. The NDB has enjoyed high credit ratings and have provided for its good presence in international markets. It’s full-fledged transformation into a full-fledged platform should become one of the key challenges and objectives for the next five years. I hope that pretty soon we will see large-scale ambitious projects in the banks’ portfolio with its strengthened role as an international development institution. We also support the Bank’s efforts to expand the membership of the Bank that will allow to strengthen the presence and position of the NDB as one of the largest development institutions of the world.
Thank you.