Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass at the Future of Digital Cooperation Event : Building Resilience Through Safe, Trusted, and Inclusive Digital Public Infrastructure

This report discusses the readout from World Bank Group President David Malpass's meeting at the Future of Digital Cooperation Event: Building Resilience Through Safe, Trusted, and Inclusive Digital Public Infrastructure. There have been severe reversals in development, and global policy trends suggest these will persist. Digital public infrastructure is a vital part of our response. Digital identification, payment, and data sharing platforms have made it possible for countries to respond more effectively, more transparently, at a greater speed and scale, and with more security and privacy. The World Bank Group is engaged across all these elements and our operations with significant digital components have been growing. Our portfolio stands at nearly 4.7 billion dollars. Through country engagements, we support our clients to boost mobile phone networks and remove regulatory barriers to foster access to finance. We are helping with the adoption of e-government platforms and the modernization of social protection systems. Our Global Findex database shows that 71 percent of adults in developing economies now have a formal financial account, often a bank account, compared to 42 percent a decade ago. It is critical to build on this trend. Expanding access to finance, reducing the cost of digital transactions, and channeling wage payments and social transfers through accounts will be critically important to mitigate the reversals in development from the ongoing turbulence