World Bank President Ajay Banga told European Union officials last month that he intends to triple the size of the bank’s guarantee agency, according to a meeting summary seen by Devex.
The Nov. 21 video call was Banga’s first with the biannual meeting of development ministers and senior officials from the European Union member states and the European Commission since his election to the post in May 2023. And it follows years of scrutiny of the bank’s climate credentials, as well as Group of 20 major economies-led efforts to make multilateral development banks, or MDBs, stretch their balance sheets further.
Banga told EU officials that he wants to triple the size of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, or MIGA — which provides risk insurance for investors and lenders — in the next few years, and focus more on guarantees, including for renewable energy. The move comes after the second volume of a G20-commissioned expert report, published in September, called for MIGA to triple its annual guarantees and distribution activities by 2030.