Monetary and financial policies must be set in a way that economic vulnerability can be reduced and the economy would be consolidated against external shocks, said Central Bank Governor Valiollah Seif, at the 2015 International Monetary Fund/World Bank Group spring meetings in Washington D.C.
Held twice a year, the spring meeting hosts governors of member central banks and economy ministers on April 17-19. The next meeting is set to be held on October 9-11 in Lima, Peru.
The most important events of the gathering are economic roundtables at which senior IMF and WBG officials are present. Additionally, World Bank’s monetary, financial, and development committees are scheduled to hold meetings.
Seif stressed the importance of providing financial services for development, According to Central Bank of Iran’s public affairs. “For doing so budget resources, used at times of crises, need to be frequently replenished. Institutional frameworks should be fortified and structural reform is necessary. In this regard, bettering business environment would create more job opportunities, induce growth, and promote private investment,” he said.
The CBI governor along with his retinue met with members of the Group of 24 (G24), a group established in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues and to ensure that their interests were adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters.
The CBI governor also said that it is particularly important to invest in health and education and improve social welfare conditions, suggesting that the countries of the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) as well as other countries in the region that have enough financial resources can make a substantial and highly effective contribution.
The second necessity highlighted by the official was expanding human resources. “To achieve our development goals projected for the year 2030, provision of financial resources must increase within the international community, depending on the existing necessities,” he said.
“Additionally, efforts must be sustained to develop trade systems and enhance international cooperation regarding financial matters. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to attend to reforming the structure of government debts in the world,” he added.
Highlighting the fact that the frameworks for providing financial resources are currently inefficient, the governor said that developed countries should uphold their responsibilities regarding development cooperation.
Seif noted that sufficient investment yields positive results in short-term growth and increases the potentials for production.
Investment in infrastructures, however, is currently insufficient and the needed reforms in the current structure of international financial institutions have taken longer than expected, he said. “Nevertheless, with the inauguration of two new banks; BRICS development bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), conditions might improve.”
BRICS is a multilateral development bank operated by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as an alternative to the existing US-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The bank was set up to foster greater financial and development cooperation among the five emerging markets.
AIIB is an international financial institution proposed by the government of China. The purpose of the multilateral development bank is to provide finance to infrastructure projects in the Asian region.
