Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said India’s well-targeted policy mix, along with major structural reforms and a strong external balance sheet, have helped its growth remain resilient, despite exogenous threats. he added that India It has embarked on the path of self-reliant economy and hence, has been successful in mitigating the negative effects of the pandemic.
Sitharaman underlined India’s remarkable progress through its digitization mission, using technology to facilitate social security and promote financial inclusion. The Finance Minister also highlighted that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi It is actively leading India’s climate change response efforts through various programs such as ‘Lifestyle for Environment’ (or LiFE) among many other programmes.
Sitharaman was speaking at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which she attended via videoconferencing. The theme of this year’s annual meeting was ‘Sustainable Infrastructure towards a Connected World’.
Every year at the annual meeting, the Board of Governors meets to take important decisions on important matters relating to AIIB and its future outlook. India is a founding member and the second largest shareholder in AIIB. India also has the largest project portfolio within the AIIB.
“Despite exogenous threats, India’s well-targeted policy mix coupled with major structural reforms and a sound external balance sheet has helped its growth remain resilient. The Finance Minister emphasized that India has embarked on the path of a self-reliant economy and hence has been successful in mitigating the negative effects of the pandemic,” according to an official statement.
Sitharaman suggested that AIIB needs to increase investment in key priority areas including clean energy and energy efficiency, disaster resilient infrastructure, social infrastructure, to ensure that meaningful impact is achieved and resources are not scattered across multiple sectors. Is. education and health, and digital infrastructure.
“As public resources alone are insufficient to meet the vast infrastructure needs of the members, the Finance Minister advised that the Bank should play a catalytic role not only in mobilizing diverse private sector resources, but also in augmenting its own resources. Mechanisms to be explored, including prompt action for the recommendations of the report of the G20 Expert Panel on the Capital Addiction Framework (CAF) of the MDB,” according to the statement.
The Finance Minister said that beyond its financial support, AIIB should work towards expanding the scope of its mid-stream and upstream engagement activities, such as enhanced to help clients translate strategies into investment plans. Technical support done. Lastly, Sitharaman suggested that the bank should set up full-fledged country offices in member locations.
Sitharaman assured the AIIB of India’s continued cooperation in achieving its mandated mission.
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