India’s G20 (The Group of Twenty) Presidency inherits volatility of geopolitics coupled with a slowdown in global economic activity. The road ahead for India is full of challenges including the war on Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic threatening the global economy, which is experiencing disrupted supply chains, cost of living crisis, soaring energy prices and challenges to climate action.

India has chosen the theme – ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ or ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ for her G20 Presidency representing a holistic approach of growth with sustainability in consideration of all life forms in development process linking with the protection of the planet.

G20 represents, as the premier forum for global economic cooperation and policy guidelines, the desire of the developed and emerging economies to address global economic challenges collectively. It serves 20 major economies of the world; additionally, there are 9 guest countries and 14 multilateral organisations as participants of G20 including the United Nations (UN), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Labor Organization (ILO), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), African Union, International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), among others. G20 is a multilateral framework addressing various global issues barring geopolitics.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared that the Presidency will be inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented and decisive in the direction of making it a ‘People’s G20’ for a post-pandemic world. Indian Presidency has set G20 priorities with a special focus on macroeconomic implications of food and energy insecurity, climate change, strengthening Multilateral Development Banks (MBDs), financing inclusivity, equitable and sustainable growth, digital public infrastructure, and climate financing.

Indian Presidency has to reconsider transboundary challenges to financing needs through MBDs, which constitute a significant hurdle in addressing shared global economic challenges like global inflation, food and energy insecurity and macro-economic implications of climate change. Thus, multilateral financial institutions have to keep a track of the monetary policy changes in the US that have a significant impact across borders in developing countries while managing their fiscal policy. Thus, India has to take a big step forward in bringing governance reforms at the IMF and the World Bank. Further, the Indian Presidency has followed a people-centric approach to financial inclusion which could come through an effective redistribution of existing capital and other resources.

Source : hindustantimes.com/ For more details