World Bank Group president David Malpass backed a proposal by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III for multilateral lenders to closely coordinate their development efforts in the Asia-Pacific region.
In a meeting at the World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C., Malpass encouraged Dominguez to come up with more proposals on how the bank can perform better in helping the Philippines accelerate its sustainable growth.
Dominguez earlier urged the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to coordinate their work in the region to help reduce overhead costs not only for both institutions but also for countries seeking development assistance, in terms of lowering their operational expenses and borrowing rates.
“As governor of both institutions—World Bank and ADB… I feel that there is a lot of room for reduction of overheads for both institutions at least in Asia.” Dominguez said.
“Why do we have to get two economic reports from ADB and WB? Maybe there’s a way to work together and to reduce overheads,” he said.
