Nearly 3,000 member country delegates are attending the World Bank’s 2021 Spring Meetings this month. For the second time, the event is being held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the bank focused on the health crisis, pledging up to $160 billion — to be disbursed through this June — to support countries’ responses. In October, it further approved $12 billion for vaccine finance.
This year’s focus is international development, including issues of debt, economic recovery, vaccines, and climate. While the issues under discussion are diverse from a procurement perspective, the key sectors financed by World Bank capital continue to relate mostly to infrastructure, with transportation, water and sanitation, and energy topping the list.
Devex has regularly analyzed funding in World Bank contracts for regions, sectors, and organizations. This article looks at what has happened since the publication of a previous analysis covering the 2006-2016 period.