His Excellency Minister of Finance, Mr. Mohammed Al-Jadaan, attended the virtual meeting held by the Development Committee of boards of governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on April 17, 2020, to discuss and review the response of the World Bank Group to the repercussions of COVID-19 and the support provided to poorest and developing countries to counteract health and economic implications of the crisis.

His Excellency stressed the urgent need for global coordinated efforts and immediate actions to combat, address and mitigate economic and social impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of collective action and international efforts, his Excellency highlighted the Saudi G20 presidency’s important and central role in responding to the crisis; by coordinating international efforts and cooperation between all international and regional organizations that aimed at enhancing preparedness, swift response to the crisis and maintaining stability of the global economy. Furthermore, his Excellency refered to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ agreement on an action plan in response to COVID-19 pandemic and its economic implications, in light of implementation of the G20 leaders’ commitment at the recently held emergency meeting. His Excellency the Minister highlighted the G20 role in mitigating the crisis impacts on the poorest countries, as the G20 agreed to suspend debt services for those countries to bilateral official creditors. His Excellency also pointed out the G20 Energy Ministers meeting that ensures oil market stability, mitigate the pandemic impacts and facilitate the joint efforts for recovery. His Excellency also reviewed Kingdom’s efforts in response to COVID-19 at domestic, regional and international levels, confirming the Saudi government and its leadership keenness to protect health and safety of citizens and mitigate the crisis implications on economic activities and private sector in the Kingdom. The government has introduced a set of initiatives amounted more than SAR 226 billion to address health, social and economic impacts of the crisis.

In his speech, His Excellency commended the World Bank and IMF for their swift response to mobilize possible resources to financially and technically support countries during the crisis and urged them to further support countries of the region which are in a critical situation. In addition to urging them to cooperate with other international organizations to support member countries in developing data, analysis and sharing information on effective measures to restart economies whilst protecting health objectives.