World Bank pledges USD 82 billion for Nigeria, other poorest countries

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – The World Bank today announced that donors have agreed to a record package of USD 82 billion to support the world’s poorest countries, that is people who depend on International Development Agencies(IDA) in 74 poorest countries, including Nigeria, rated the 20th poorest country by GDP.

Out of the total sum of USD 82 billion, USD 23.5 billion were from new donor contribution, World Bank President, David Malpass said in his remarks at the conclusion of Policy and Financing Negotiations for World’s Poorest Countries (IDA19) in Stockholm, Sweden.

A total of 52 donors and borrower countries came together for that purpose, Malpass said adding that more countries are expected to add their contributions.

“Noteworthy is the increase in contributions from countries that were once major IDA recipients and have become major IDA donors. The donors agreed to a record package of US$82 billion, with US$23.5 billion of new donor contributions. This will support people who depend on IDA in 74 countries”, he announced adding that World Bank is extremely grateful to development partners, both donors and clients, for their vision, partnership, and expression of confidence in the World Bank’s ability to deliver for the world’s poorest countries.

He said the World Bank is committed to using every dollar contributed to achieve the greatest development impact and that the bank seeks good development outcomes that will achieve more growth, poverty alleviation and better outcomes on gender, climate, fragile, conflict and violent states, jobs and economic transformation, good governance and accountable institutions.

“Those are the major themes of this IDA19 replenishment”, the World Bank chief said, stressing that the generosity of donors around the world “gives us the capacity and credibility to deliver on our mission to help IDA countries achieve good country outcomes for their people.

“This new funding will allow IDA to work in situations of fragility, conflict and violence, including in the Sahel, the Lake Chad region, and the Horn of Africa. Today two thirds of the world’s poor, almost 500 million people, live in the 74 countries eligible for IDA. The new financing announced today includes nearly $50 billion in additional commitments for countries in Sub Saharan Africa.

“The strong and enthusiastic support for IDA comes despite the tight budget environments faced by many of our donors and most of the contributions have increased from IDA18. IDA19 represents a great effort by donors from around the world and showed great generosity, and I would reiterate that this has been a fantastic demonstration of cooperation for a great cause”, he said, adding that their support in these circumstances reflects the strength of the World Bank’s IDA partnership, our shared development ambitions, and the World Bank’s ability to help address the extreme challenges faced by our clients.