Under pressure from some of its biggest shareholders, the World Bank delivered a roadmap for reform last month that was underpinned by management’s proposal for shareholders to give the bank more financial resources. The plan is meant to get the anti-poverty lender in shape for the modern era of slowing economic growth and multiple crises — with climate change a critical threat on the radar.
There is much to like in the document, many development experts outside the bank said in interviews with Devex, including a clear desire to get more support to countries and focus on tackling climate change from a cross-border perspective. But there is also a sense the document was meant to be a starting point for negotiations and should have laid out a more aggressive approach from the outset.
Moreover, given the complex and somewhat obscure nature of the talks ahead on balance sheet optimization, risk ratios, and funding mechanisms, a key question hangs over the plan’s fate: Will the drive for reform run out of steam before serious change gets enacted?