The world is now a full year into the COVID-19 pandemic—both the health emergency and the global economic crisis it has generated. Its impacts have touched every person in every country, causing illness and death, disrupting livelihoods, and potentially pushing an estimated 150 million more people into extreme poverty around the globe by the end of 2021. And
A message from World Bank Group President Mr. Malpass
Friends, 
As the year draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of our work in 2020 and challenges ahead.
While some countries have begun a recovery from COVID-19, many continue to suffer lasting health and economic risks. The World Bank Group is working hard to address the unequal toll of the global pandemic. Since April, we have been providing support on an unprecedented scale, focusing first on the health emergency, as well as on the broader recovery goals and vaccination needs.
I would like to briefly highlight some of my writing and engagements from last week:
Op-Ed: To Cope With Covid, the World’s Poor Need Debt Relief
In last week’s Wall Street Journal, I published an op-ed urging greater transparency and timely and meaningful debt relief for the people of the world’s poorest countries. These are immediate, critical needs as countries work to recover from the global pandemic, and we can no longer afford to kick the debt can down the road – developing countries need relief now.
Ahead of the World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meetings, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management will host World Bank Group President David Malpass who will discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people and the challenge of building a resilient and inclusive global recovery.
The event will be introduced by Germany’s Bundesbank President Dr. Jens Weidmann and include a conversation between President Malpass and Professor Nils Stieglitz, President and Managing Director of Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
Dear Governors,
I hope this finds you well, safe, and healthy during these very difficult times. I have enormously appreciated your support over the past year, and our warm and constructive interactions. Face-to- face meetings have become harder over recent months, so at our fiscal year-end, I wanted to provide an update on World Bank Group (WBG) deliveries, as well as other efforts over the past year. I would like to focus in particular on the COVID-19 emergency response, the Debt Service Suspension Initiative for the world’s poorest countries, and progress made on debt transparency since the Development Committee on April 17. I would also like to update you on a few organizational, leadership, and governance matters.
WASHINGTON, April 22, 2020 — Global remittances are projected to decline sharply by about 20 percent in 2020 due to the economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown. The projected fall, which would be the sharpest decline in recent history, is largely due to a fall in the wages and employment of migrant workers, who tend to be more vulnerable to loss of employment and wages during an economic crisis in a host country. Remittances to low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are projected to fall by 19.7 percent to $445 billion, representing a loss of a crucial financing lifeline for many vulnerable households.
This week’s UK-Africa Investment Summit will provide a welcome business-focused 
forum for leaders to assess the challenges and opportunities for African countries. Throughout the summit, I will stress the importance – and difficulty – of transformational improvements in economic programs. Faster, more sustained and broad-based growth is the only path to creating the jobs and stability needed for the millions of young people reaching working age and is vital to the World Bank’s mission of alleviating poverty and raising living standards.
The global outlook foresees a moderate slowdown in economic activity, with lingering 
downside risks. Global trade growth has weakened, while investment prospects have softened; both of these remain important engines of growth, productivity, innovation, job creation and sustainable development. Debt vulnerabilities persist, and policy uncertainty is weighing on confidence. For developing countries, it is important to adopt growth-enhancing policies while containing risks and protecting the most vulnerable. The World Bank Group, in partnership with the International Monetary Fund, is able to help countries in addressing these concerns.
