to the burden that they have to bear. access to payment services is especially difficult for disadvantaged people, for the unbanked and for those poorly literate in it services ( i. e. who do not make use of more advanced it services ). the pandemic crisis has only made things worse. according to the world bank, in 2020, the crisis may have pushed more than 100 million people back to poverty ; poverty rates have increased for the first time in the last 25 years, back to levels last seen in 2017. 1 what is worse, it is jeopardizing future prospects for poverty reduction by adversely affecting longer - term productivity growth. for migrant workers, a vital financial service is the possibility to send remittances to their families in the home country. for low - and middle - income countries, remittance flows are a crucial source of external financing, greater than official development assistance and more stable than private capital flows. 2 between 2010 and 2019, remittance flows each year grew on average by more than 5 per cent, reaching $ 717 billion, of which $ 548 billion were to low - and middle - income countries. the cost of sending remittances has declined over the last 10 years, but it still stands at about 7 per cent on average : this is well above the g20 commitment in 2011 to reduce the cost to 5 per cent and the un sustainable development goal target of 3 per cent by 2030. 3 for smes, the challenges for cross - border payments are no less daunting. transaction costs are proportionally higher for smaller payments. opacity over execution times, processing chains and dispute resolution is another major concern. the riskiness of cross - border payments for small companies is magnified by the inadequacy, or even lack, of their liquidity management or of foreign ‑ exchange hedging and trade finance services. this is my first point : enhancing cross - border payments is vital for people. second : in our efforts to redesign the global payments ecosystem, we have to be conscious of its link with the environment, which goes in both directions. extreme world bank ( 2021 ), ‘ global economic prospects ’, january 2021, world bank group. see world bank ’ s data on remittances, available at https : / / www. knomad. org / data / remittances. see fsb, financial stability board ( 2020 ), ‘ enhancing cross -

and to develop new financing strategies that can support the implementation of the sdgs. we believe it is critically important in these unprecedented times to demonstrate the unwavering support of the global community to the poorest countries and we look forward to the review by executive directors of the decision concerning the 2020 ida transfer by december 2020. an extension of the debt service suspension initiative ( dssi ) by 6 months is warranted by the continued liquidity pressures. this decision could be re - examined by the time of the 2021 imf / w bg spring meetings and a further extension by six months could be considered if required by the economic and financial situation. all official bilateral creditors should implement this initiative fully and in a transparent manner. we strongly encourage private creditors ’ participation in the dssi on comparable terms when requested by eligible countries. we recognize that debt treatments beyond the dssi may be required on a case - by - case basis. in this context, we welcome the agreement reached in principle at the g20 on a “ common framework for debt treatments beyond the dssi ”. we welcome progress achieved in the ongoing review of ida voting rights. we urge executive directors to conclude the review by november 2021 and to agree on a simpler system that would ensure a progressive alignment between contributions and voting rights, while safeguarding the voting power of recipient countries. we reaffirm our commitment to a 5 - year shareholding review and the lima principles. nevertheless, we do not necessarily believe a shareholding realignment is required at each review. as the current review comes only two years after the conclusion of the 2018 capital increase, with the capital subscriptions process in the ibrd and ifc having just begun, we support the completion of the 2020 ibrd shareholding review at this stage with no realignment. similarly, we support the completion of the ifc shareholding review without further analytical work. confronting these unprecedented challenging times requires dedication and strong discipline in the use of available resources. we thank president malpass, and all w bg management and staff for their exceptional effort on the front lines of the response to the economic consequences of the pandemic. flexibility in the use of budgetary resources has been instrumental in this endeavor. as we continue to face the inevitable cost pressures resultant from a much larger portfolio and operations in more difficult contexts, it is important to maintain budgetary discipline. this is even more relevant for the ifc, whose budget coverage ratio has deteriorated, suffering particularly from adverse effects in financial markets.