Donor governments must step up and make the next International Development Association replenishment the “largest of all time,” according to World Bank President Ajay Banga.
The call comes as donor contributions to IDA, the World Bank’s concessional financing arm for the poorest countries, have flatlined in recent years. This is despite growing needs as low-income countries battle the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, debt distress, fuel and food price shocks, and the need to adapt to climate change.
Set up in 1960 to offer grants and cheap loans to the world’s poorest countries, IDA is the world’s single largest anti-poverty fund, committing $42 billion in 2022 toward energy, transport, education, health, private sector development, and social protection projects. It is also the world’s only AAA-rated concessional fund and disperses funds in three-year funding cycles.