IDB President outlines goals for the region

The new IDB President, Ilan Goldfajn has delivered his first address since taking office. Government representatives and members of the diplomatic community, multilateral financial institutions, academia, think tanks and the private sector were in attendance for the address at Bank headquarters in Washington. He identified social issues, climate change and investing more in sustainable physical and digital infrastructure that will boost regional integration and productivity, as the priority areas of his administration. He said the decisions the region makes in the face of great challenges are likely to have a lasting impact.

Ilan Goldfajn, IDB President: “Here I am, here we are at a historic junction for the region and the IDB and you all know why this is an historic moment not only for the IDB but for the global economy. This is a time of unprecedented overlapping crisis. The first global pandemic in a century, the largest land war in Europe since World War Two, highest inflation in generation, global food insecurity, energy security, climate change so the decisions we make and the actions we take will have help define how the region recovers and how our people progress for I believe decades.”

In his address this week, IDB President Ilan Goldfajn also indicated that the bank must improve its response to the region’s needs and challenges.

Ilan Goldfajn, IDB President:  “It has to be the region’s most trusted partners. We are policymakers, we are governments come to the IDB for not only financing but also knowledge, expertise, to find solutions, to brainstorm, to look for innovative solutions to our region’s challenges and it has to be a place where staff is proud to work. Unfortunately it has not been always like that now more recently but it’s gonna be I can assure you. Threw are three elements that are quite relevant to achieve the vision first the IDB needs to aspire to be far better at delivering results, effective results and we need to be precise with what is being effective. Effective at lifting people out of poverty, reducing all types of inequality, addressing climate change, productivity, more growth, creating opportunities for member countries. Our work will be driven by data and evidence that’s how I know how to do,  looking at data and evidence and let me give you one data in 2021 just 53% of completed IDB projects evaluated by the independent office of evaluation and oversight received a positive rating, just 53%. We can and should do better.”