Development banks must drive sustainable goals: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman called for enhanced support by multilateral development banks to poor and developing nations, especially from Africa, to realise their sustainable development goals.

At a G7 African ministerial roundtable in Washington DC, the minister underscored the need to scale up access for such nations to long-term and affordable finance for development.

It needs to be backed by structural reforms and other policy measures by these countries, she said, to spur domestic resource mopup and attract foreign investments to build their long-term financial resilience and attain the development goals, the finance ministry said in a post on microblogging site X.

Sitharaman made the statement at the roundtable to discuss country-specific solutions to development finance challenges and G7 initiatives for development in Africa, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group late Saturday.

The minister urged the G7 and G20 groups of nations to step up support for Africa and highlighted India’s assistance to the continent in areas such as infrastructure development and health.