IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. File | Photo credit: AFP

As the five-day annual meeting of world leaders in Davos ended on January 20, 2023, they called for approaching the new year with realism and caution while avoiding complacency.

Amid looming threats of a cost-of-living crisis emanating from the war in Ukraine and lingering pandemic risks, leaders said Friday there was a need for a resilient and determined approach to green growth and inclusive.

“Anemic economic growth, inflationary pressures and the war in Ukraine all tell us why we should approach the new year with realism and caution,” IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said during the closing session of the World Economic Forum. global economy meeting.

She also warned against Western climate subsidies and said these could harm emerging and developing economies.

“Western subsidies to fight climate change and encourage the transition to clean energy sources by using public money to scale up private investment…may not serve emerging markets and the developing world well,” she said.

There may be glimmers of positive news, but leaders must not become “complacent”, former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers has said.

European Central Bank President and former IMF chief Christine Lagarde said policymakers, businesses and consumers must take a “resilient and determined approach to digital, green and inclusive growth”.