At the 114th meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Development Committee, Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta, speaking for the constituency of Albania, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, San Marino and Timor-Leste, backed the World Bank Group’s reform agenda and called for implementation focused on measurable development impact. He identified skills, health systems, artificial intelligence, climate action and private investment as priorities as geopolitical tensions, inflation and economic fragmentation place disproportionate pressure on emerging and developing economies. Panetta urged the World Bank Group to expand Global Skill Partnerships, strengthen rapid health emergency financing and help developing countries adopt AI through infrastructure, connectivity, human capital and risk management. Citing the 2026 World Development Report, he noted that widespread AI adoption could raise potential growth in emerging and developing economies by 0.8 percentage points annually. He also supported extending the Climate Change Action Plan and selectively re-engaging in nuclear energy in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and under the highest safety standards. On development finance, Panetta endorsed plans to create an investable asset class based on common standards for project preparation, disclosure and credit risk, alongside greater use of risk-absorbing equity and local-currency financing. He cautioned that private capital mobilization is not suitable in every context and called for tailored instruments that preserve additionality, development impact and countercyclical lending to low-income and fragile countries. He also supported stronger International Development Association finances, the Lima Principles as the basis for the 2030 Shareholding Review, monitoring of procurement reforms and continued World Bank Group support for Ukraine.

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