The World Bank Group is gearing up for its annual meetings, held together with the International Monetary Fund in October. Every third year, the meetings are hosted by a member country — this time, it’s Indonesia. For the bank, ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity continue to be overarching goals.
The annual meetings are paramount in bringing together a large number of member country officials along with other stakeholders such as central bankers, civil society, private sector representatives, and academics to deliberate on critical global affairs such as economic development, aid effectiveness, climate change, global financial stability, and poverty eradication. Borrowing countries, executing agencies, and project implementers will be looking at the outcomes of the meetings as a main indicator of where the bank will be investing in the near future.
But what can we learn from its investments over the past year? Devex analyzed the World Bank’s contract awards data for fiscal year 2017 to find out, highlighting the best-funded sectors, the most competitive award areas, and which countries have moved in the ranks since 2016. The analysis is based on data covering major awards under International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and IDA investment projects, loans, grants, and related trust funds.