World Bank Governor's Statement No. 8 - Statement by the Hon. Katsunobu Kato, Governor for Japan at the 2024 Annual Meetings

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Ophelia

Governor Katsunobu Kato’s 2024 World Bank Governor’s Statement assesses the global recovery while highlighting key downside risks from geopolitical tensions, debt cost pressures, and market volatility, including foreign exchange swings. It argues that Japan can exit deflation through wage growth and record business investment, while pursuing fiscally resilient, crisis-ready public finances. The statement outlines Japan’s expectations for the IMF and the World Bank on their evolving mandates, including support for LICs, resilience to climate impacts, and cooperative responses to global challenges, marking the Bretton Woods 80th anniversary.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

I. THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AND THE JAPANESE ECONOMY

II. EXPECTATIONS FOR THE IMF AND THE WBG

1) EXPECTATIONS FOR THE IMF

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized World Bank Governor's Statement No. 8 October 25, 2024 Statement by the Hon. KATSUNOBU KATO, Governor of the IBRD for JAPAN Statement by the Hon. Katsunobu Kato, Governor of the IBRD for Japan I. THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AND THE JAPANESE ECONOMY While the global economy is recovering, geopolitical tensions are significant downside risks. We should be mindful of increased debt costs in many countries, including LowIncome Countries (LICs), and high volatility in financial markets, including foreign exchange markets. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is the largest source of global economic uncertainty. Once again, we condemn Russia’s war of aggression in the strongest terms, and we welcome the progress of the IMF and the World Bank Group (WBG)'s support for Ukraine. The Japanese economy faces an opportunity to overcome deflation, as shown by the annual wage increase at the highest level in 33 years at the spring labor-management negotiations and record-high levels of business investment. We will bring about a growthoriented economy driven by wage increases and investment while improving fiscal conditions, creating a dynamic economy along with public finances that are resilient tocrises. II. EXPECTATIONS FOR THE IMF AND THE WBG This year marks the 80th anniversary of the agreement reached at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA, to establish the IMF and the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development- IBRD) . The initial missions of both institutions, which were created based on the lessons learnt from the events leading up to the second World War, were to support the post-war reconstruction of their members. Namely, the IMF, by maintaining a fixed exchange rate system centered on the dollar, promoted global economic stability and trade expansion, while the World Bank played the role in bolstering the economic recovery of its members by lending long-term funds at low interest rates to rebuild infrastructure and other assets. Since then, the IMF and the World Bank have appropriately evolved their roles amidst the changes in the international economic and financial landscape. As the international monetary system shifted to the floating exchange rate regime, the IMF assumed a role of addressing short-term balance of payments needs through financing reserve assets of members. Afterwards, the IMF’s functions have expanded to include supporting LICs and enhancing members’ resilience against the impacts of climate change. The World Bank has evolved to respond to the different development stages and the different financial needs of its member countries, through the International Development Association (IDA) that supports LICs, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) that supports private capital mobilization in developing countries, in addition to the IBRD that supports middle-income countries (MICs) . In recent years, the World Bank has played a critical role in addressing cross-border global challenges such as climate change and pandemics. The world economy is undergoing various structural transformations: intensifying natural disasters, both in terms of their scale and frequency due to climate change; pandemics; heightened geopolitical tensions; global demographic changes; and disruptive technological innovations. In this context, and as this year marks the 80th anniversary of Bretton Woods, we consider it a perfect opportunity to deepen the discussion on the future role and characteristics of both institutions. Based on this, in the following sections, I will describe Japan’s expectations for the IMF and the WBG respectively, and then present Japan's views on issues that should be addressed cooperatively by both institutions. 1) EXPECTATIONS FOR THE IMF First of all, we believe that the importance of the IMF’s core mandate of addressing issues that affect countries' b

FAQs

What major risks does the statement identify for the global economy?

Geopolitical tensions are described as a significant source of downside risk, alongside increased debt costs in many countries and high volatility in financial markets, including foreign exchange.

How does the statement characterize Japan’s economic outlook and priorities?

Japan is expected to overcome deflation through wage increases and record-high business investment. The statement emphasizes building a growth-oriented economy while improving fiscal conditions and enhancing resilience.

What core roles does Japan say the IMF should continue to focus on?

The statement highlights the IMF’s balance-of-payments mandate and catalytic engagement with other institutions, and it stresses the importance of concessional support to low-income countries via the PRGT.

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Ophelia