Macron has big plans for international finance


50 world leaders are gathering in Paris this week for the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, an initiative of Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley and French President Emmanuel Macron.

French officials say the two-day summit, which starts on Thursday, is designed to re-orient global financial institutions (like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank) around some key goals:

  1. ⛓️ Alleviating the growing debt burden on poorer nations, and
  2. 🚧 Supporting their development, while also
  3. 🌿 Helping them transition away from fossil fuels.

The idea is to address criticism that:

In response, this Paris summit is promising to get creative. For example:

Intrigue’s take: The challenge here is huge: poor countries are now spending more on interest payments than hitting their climate goals; the developed world was already missing its pledges to help, before COVID and the Russo-Ukraine war struck; and tired voters seemingly want concrete wins at home more than ethereal wins abroad.

So a bit of creativity is probably essential.

Also worth noting:

  • Confirmed attendees include Kenyan President William Ruto, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and EU head Ursula von der Leyen.
  • Ajay Banga, the new head of the World Bank, says addressing climate adaptation and mitigation is one of his top priorities.