Finance Minister His Excellency Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, along with other panelists attending a discussion during the Doha Forum. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: The 21st edition of Doha Forum witnessed a jam-packed participation, where world leaders, top minds, executives, and several delegates addressed numerous pressing issues including International Relations and Security, Economic Policy and Development, Cyber Security, Data Privacy and Artificial Intelligence, and Sustainability.
During the session entitled ‘Decoding the Debt Dilemma - Unveiling Multilateral Solutions’, the Minister of Finance H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, President of World Economic Forum Børge Brende, and President of the African Development Bank Dr. Akinwumi Adesina took part.
The minister stated that Qatar has "developed a medium term fiscal policy framework". He said that the purpose is to review different revenue scenarios for the countries going forward for the next two or three decades and also assess how to be flexible in diverting the spending to the right sectors.
"And the idea of this fiscal policy framework is to become discipline in our view in the future and to use different tools depending on the conditions we see in the future and also to decide what to do in terms of deficit and also surplus," H E Al Kuwari mentioned.
He stressed that wars are not good for investment. However, the region had been very well established long ago. While few economies are performing well with adequate stability, other countries are encountering challenges.
Børge Brende outlined that even the largest economy in the world - USA has 25 percent debt. The US will be able to manage this but a lot of countries are having this issue where this money can be put in education, healthcare and others.
Akinwumi Adesina during the conversation highlighted that the African continent contributes only 3 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, however, loses around $7-15bn (QR25bn to QR55bn) per year to climate change impacts.
The day-long event highlighted numerous concerns regarding the global economic challenges and the unprecedented forces of fragmentation across geopolitics, technology, and international trade.
The panel discussion focused on the global economic challenge of public debt and accentuated the significance of finding multilateral solutions.
The high-level officials engaged in pivotal conversations on the implications of escalating public debt levels, their impact on economic stability, and the potential risks to global financial systems.
