World Bank, IMF Spring Meeting To Address Poverty, US Tariffs Impact

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) WASHINGTON, April 20 (KUNA) -- The 2025 Spring meetings between the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) on April 21st until the 26th will be addressing several issues including poverty, global developments and the impact of the US tariffs on the world.
The State of Kuwait, represented by Finance Ministry Undersecretary Aseel Al-Munifi, will take part in the event, which would witness a wide-range participation from government representatives, civil society members, business personnel, as well as other officials and organizations.
Perhaps one of the main issues to be addressed in this year's meetings is the impact of the new US tariffs on the world economy, leading to tremendous tension between the world most developed economies, the US and China.
Earlier month, President Donald Trump signed a "historic" executive order imposing "reciprocal" tariffs on all countries of the world; however, Trump said that not all countries would have the same level of tariffs.
Back to the WB-IMF Spring meetings, the gatherers would touch on ways to utilize AI in finding solutions to challenges facing the world and increasing funding, knowledge, and investments within the private sector.
The conferees would also discuss the status of world economy due to several countries facing numerous real challenges including increasing debt and livelihood crises in the last decade.
Ajay Banga, World Bank President, urged in a press statement a few days ago developing countries to free their trade, saying that most of such countries had high tariffs more than those imposed by developed economies.
He indicated that such step would lessen the chance for counter tariffs on imports.
World countries must focus on dialogue and negotiations, he affirmed, saying that the foggy situation created by the US new tariffs and countermeasures by China and other countries would only complicate the situation.
For her part, Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva said last Friday that the slowing of global economy and rising animosity due to the diplomacy of "threats" propagated by President Trump had caused a sense of uncertainty, slowing economic growth and production.
She said that the IMF's new forecast would include visible lowering of prices, but it would not include recession, adding that there a high expectation for inflation for some countries.
The Spring meetings would include a side gathering on Syria hosted by Saudi Arabia and the World Bank in an attempt to support the Syrian people in the upcoming period.
UN Assistant Secretary General and the UN Development Program Assistant Administrator and Director, Regional Bureau for Arab States Abdullah Dardari affirmed that this sideline meeting was an indication that the world and major international institutions were eager to support the Syrian
amm

MENAFN20042025000071011013ID1109449586