“The impact of investments improves the quality of life of our people”, Minister of Finance said
Luis Caputo talked about sustainable growth together with Jim Yong Kim. Later, he will be participating in a panel organized by the Center for Global Development, continuing with a tough working agenda that includes bilateral meetings and different events with businessmen and investors.
The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, participated as Governor before the World Bank of the panel “Market forces at work: Institutional investors and a sustainable world”, together with the President of the multilateral organization, Jim Yong Kim. It is one of the main events of the World Bank Spring meetings, where global leaders commit themselves to implement innovative strategies that help countries to grow in a sustainable and inclusive way.
After the keynote address by Jim Yong Kim, the Ministry of Finance said that infrastructure for development will be a main theme at the working agenda of G20 that Argentina is hosting this year.
In his speech, Caputo talked about the infrastructure deficit of the region: “Many countries like ours are facing both budgetary and financing constraints; it is a shame because there are 85 trillion available assets that could be invested in longer terms and with more attractive yield. This is something that investing in infrastructure can really provide”.
Accordingly, Mr. Minister talked about the importance of mobilizing the private sector: “We have been working side by side with Jim Yong Kim and his team to present innovative ideas that allow us to increase the financing of the World Bank and other multilateral organizations. We have come with some structures such as the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme which allow us to leverage their lending in more than 10 times”.
Likewise, Caputo said that PPP projects are taking the lead in many countries: “It is a way to settle the infrastructure debt. In Argentina we are beginning with this process”, and he added: “the impact that investments have in the world improves the quality of life of our people”.
“We have 60 projects in the pipeline for almost 30 billion dollars to be deployed over the next 4 years. We are working with Jim Yong Kim’s team to improve the quality of these investments”, Caputo explained.
Finally, Mr. Minister talked about the investors meeting that will be taking place this year within the context of the G20 and he invited everybody to participate in it: “the ultimate goal for our presidency is to end up having infrastructure as an asset class. We know it is very ambitious and difficult, but we can achieve it”, he said.
The other participants of the panel were the CEO of the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), Hiromichi Mizuno; the Director of the UBS Global Topics, Axel Weber; and the CEO of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, Lynn Forester, of Rothschild.
Earlier today, Caputo and the Chief of Cabinet of the Ministry of Finance, Pablo Quirno, participated in the third round of meetings with his peers of the Western hemisphere, Europe and Japan to analyze the crisis in Venezuela. At the meeting they discussed “the best way to approach the issue of migration, to fight corruption and to provide humanitarian aid”, Mr. Minister said at the end of the meeting.
Later, Caputo will be participating in the panel organized by the Center for Global Development, “A conversation with Ministers of Finance from Latin America: The future of Latin American fiscal policy and growth”, and he will be holding bilateral meetings with the Minister of Treasury and Finance of Peru, David Tuesta and with the Minister of Treasury of Brazil, Eduardo Guardia.