IDA replenishment agreed at record US$75 billion to help poor countries fight extreme poverty

WASHINGTON — The World Bank announced today that a record US$75 billion has been committed to the International Development Association (IDA) for the next three years, creating a wealth of new no-interest or low-interest lending opportunities, grants, and guarantees for development projects in the world’s poorest countries. IDA is the largest multilateral financier for sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on providing basic health services, raising agricultural productivity, increasing access to affordable and reliable energy, strengthening fragile and conflict-afflicted states, and promoting high-quality education.

Jamie Drummond, executive director for global strategy at The ONE Campaign, said:

“IDA has made critical financing available to development projects around the world for more than 50 years. Its prioritization of support for projects that address conflict and fragile states, and the ways extreme poverty disproportionately affects girls and women — coupled with its commitment to innovative financing — has made IDA’s success more important than ever.

“We expect that more than half of the US$75 billion committed during this replenishment to flow to Africa over the next three years. Such robust backing for the Bank is a real boon for the fight against extreme poverty, hunger, deadly diseases, and the other root causes of forced displacement. It offers an important opportunity as we partner to help countries like Nigeria and Mali tackle extreme poverty, extreme climate, and extreme ideology.”