• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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World Bank annual report shows $67bn in commitments for partner countries

World-Bank

The World Bank Group’s loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to partner countries and private businesses reached $67 billion in 2018, representing an increase of about 8.1 percent compared to N62 billion in 2017, its recently released annual report shows. Out of the record $67 billion in financing commitment for partner countries in 2018, $19.8 billion went to sub-Saharan African countries.

In line with its mission to end extreme poverty by 2030, boost shared prosperity, and realise a world with opportunities for all, the World Bank Group committed N58.19 billion, N59.77 billion, and N64.185 billion to its partner countries in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively.
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) saw strong demand from clients for its services, with commitments rising to $23 billion in fiscal 2018.

Meanwhile, the International Development Association (IDA) provided $24 billion to help the poorest countries – the largest year of IDA commitments on record. In the review year, World Bank leveraged IDA’s strong capital base and launched the inaugural IDA bond.
Investor demand for the $1.5 billion bond reached more than $4 billion. By combining IDA’s traditional donor funding with funds raised in the capital markets, this financial innovation will expand IDA’s ability to support the world’s poorest countries, including efforts to prevent conflict.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) provided more than $23 billion in financing for private sector development last year, including $11.7 billion mobilised from investment partners. Of this, nearly $6.8 billion went to IDA countries, and more than $3.7 billion was invested in areas affected by fragility, conflict, and violence.

Marking its 30th year of operation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has become the third leading institution among the MDBs in terms of mobilising direct private capital to low- and middle-income countries.

This year, MIGA issued a record $5.3 billion in political risk insurance and credit enhancement guarantees, helping finance $17.9 billion worth of projects in developing countries. New issuances and gross outstanding exposure, at $21.2 billion in 2018, almost doubled as compared to fiscal 2013.

The World Bank approved $16.5 billion in lending to Africa region for 138 projects in fiscal 2018, including $1.1 billion in IBRD loans and $15.4 billion in IDA commitments. Revenue from Reimbursable Advisory Services agreements with nine countries was $7.5 million. Key focus areas of the World Bank strategy for Africa include raising agricultural productivity, increasing access to affordable and reliable energy, building resilience to climate change, promoting regional integration, and boosting human capital.

The international community is racing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in less than 12 years, with trillions of dollars needed to deliver on the promise. Overlapping crises, from climate change to pandemics, natural disasters to forced displacement, threaten to erase hard-earned development gains. And historic economic changes, in part from technological advancement and disruption, present risks for countries, but also opportunities if they have made the necessary investments in their people, communities, and economies to take advantage of them.

“Around the world, demand continues to rise for financing, expertise, and innovation. The needs are great – but the costs of failure are simply too high”, said Jim Yong Kim, president, World Bank Group and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors.

“Our shareholders are helping us meet that challenge with their approval of a historic $13 billion capital increase, which will strengthen the World Bank Group’s ability to reduce poverty, address the most critical challenges of our time, and help our client countries – and their people – reach their highest aspirations,” Kim said.

Kristalina Georgieva, CEO of IBRD and IDA, said, “The agreement we reached with our shareholders in April as part of the capital increase has made us stronger and set new milestones for the coming years: to improve our business model, effectively allocate resources, and do more and do better for our clients.

“This means walking the talk on issues such as climate change, gender, jobs, and fragility, but also taking a close look at the way we work and pushing our performance and productivity. We continue to shift our resources to the front lines to deliver in areas of the world that need us the most.”

 

Iheanyi Nwachukwu