Poverty has increased. Food is in short supply. The energy shock. The debt crisis. Climate change. Inflation. The war.

The headlines are depressing. They set an inescapable backdrop for this year's annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. The annual meeting provides an opportunity to sound the alarm about the dangers and discuss how to move forward to help the poor and vulnerable.

"Development has been thrown into crisis by a combination of severe events and unprecedented macroeconomic policies," World Bank President David Malpass said in a pre-conference speech at Stanford University. Multiple crises could add up to catastrophic consequences for humanity."

At the plenary session of the annual meeting Friday, Malpass said both the World Bank Group and the other Bretton Woods institutions should review their functions and capital structures and evolve to address climate change and promote global public goods.

The Development Committee is a ministerial forum representing 189 member States. The chairman of the commission issued a statement on Saturday noting that multiple crises had led to a reversal in poverty reduction and a rise in inequality. The statement calls for dialogue between management and the Board of Directors of the World Bank Group to strengthen the Bank Group's shared vision, including strategic priorities, operational approaches and financial capabilities, to strengthen and scale up responses to the world's development challenges. The statement also asked World Bank Group management to explore the recommendations of the recent independent assessment of the MDB capital adequacy Framework and to develop a roadmap for assessing and discussing each recommendation by the end of this year.

Policymakers at the meeting were deeply concerned about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the second ministerial roundtable discussion in support of Ukraine, the leaders expressed their unanimous support for Ukraine. A rapid assessment of damage and needs released last month by the World Bank, the European Union and the Ukrainian government estimated that the recovery and reconstruction effort would cost $349 billion, or 1.5 times Ukraine's prewar GDP.

"The more assistance Ukraine receives now, the sooner the war with Russia can be ended," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the conference via video link.

War is one of the crises affecting the world at present. At the public events of the annual meeting, stakeholders, including policy makers, experts and the private sector, shared views on key challenges -- inclusive growth, food security, education and the transition to low carbon resilience. These conversations are all the more urgent amid the deepening risk of a world recession, the biggest rise in global poverty in decades and the threat of a fifth wave of debt that could plunge developing countries into crisis.

The session on inclusive growth highlighted the need for policymakers to prepare now for a tougher financial environment and the importance of policy reform, innovation and investment in people to achieve shared prosperity.

Former us Treasury secretary, Harvard University, honorary President Lawrence summers said in an activity: "we need to use a certain standard to request oneself, not whether we are doing good, whether to do much more than in the past, but ask us relative to the huge global challenges and enormous global opportunities, we do good enough." Summers is a former chief economist at the World Bank.

A separate high-level session on the costs of the food and fuel crisis looked at how countries are coping with food and energy shocks, exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which disproportionately affect the poor. Key conclusions: Policymakers should avoid export restrictions, protect vulnerable populations and maintain a focus on the transition to clean energy and building resilient food systems.

Malpass told the G20 Finance and Agriculture Ministers meeting Tuesday that food prices are likely to remain at historically high levels until 2024 as the war in Ukraine continues to change trade, production and consumption patterns. The World Bank has committed US $6.3 billion to the US $30 billion Food Security Response package, which aims to help farmers increase yields, improve nutrition and build resilient food systems.

Climate change was another urgent issue that received attention during the meeting. Thursday's event on Financing a low-carbon Resilience transition explored how to address climate and development needs while supporting people and communities.

Concerns about climate issues continued throughout the week. The leaders discussed a new Expanded Climate Action to Reduce Emissions (SCALE) fund that would provide grants to developing countries for verified carbon reductions. The fund will be launched next month at the United Nations' COP27 climate Change Conference. Malpass told the Finance Ministers' Climate Action Coalition that the Bank is also committed to coal phase-out projects, methane reduction initiatives, and a series of new country Climate and Development Reports. For example, China's National Climate and Development Report, released on Wednesday, estimated that to achieve net zero emissions by 2060, the country would need an additional investment of $14-17 trillion in green infrastructure and technology in the power and transport sectors alone.

While recession fears and growing vulnerability have dominated the headlines, the long-term impact of COVID-19 on education is equally hard to ignore. At a time when 70 per cent of children in developing countries cannot understand simple written words and young people find the job market sluggish, the challenge of learning loss was the subject of another event. At the conference on investment in education, speakers agreed on the importance of prioritizing investment in education to accelerate learning and skills recovery.

In his Stanford speech, Malpass addressed the global economic situation and warned that dramatic changes in fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies since the 2008 financial crisis created the risk of underinvestment in development in the coming decades.

"The urgency is clear from daily news reports of inflation, climate change, famine, popular protests and violence," says Mr Malpass. "The World Bank Group is fully committed to addressing these challenges, assessing them realistically and implementing solutions aggressively and quickly."