The World Bank has submitted a long-awaited reform plan that would boost annual lending to middle-income countries to fight climate change and other global crises by about US$5 billion annually, while protecting the bank’s top-tier credit rating.

According to World Bank, the reform plan – “evolution road map” would be discussed with its development committee steering body on 12th April, 2023, during the spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The discussions, it stated, would continue on further measures to boost lending, including to the world’s poorest countries.

“The World Bank Group (WBG) must evolve in response to the unprecedented confluence of global crises that has upended development progress and threatened people and the planet. Action Is urgently needed to meet poverty reduction goals and respond to accelerating global challenges such as climate change, pandemic risk and conflict.
“The paper plan, which includes changes since a draft reviewed in January, lays out short-term actions and some points to be considered after the April meetings.”
World Bank

The World Bank estimates that governments in developing countries and the private sector would need to spend US$2.4 trillion a year on average through 2030 to address climate change, conflict and pandemics, or about 6% of the total economic output of developing countries.

USA Thoughts, World Bank Efforts On The Evolution Road Map

The United States, which is the bank’s largest shareholder and has been pressing the World Bank to take bolder action, had no immediate comment on the road map.

U.S. Treasury Secretary, Mrs. Janet Yellen on Wednesday said the U.S. nominee to succeed World Bank President – David Malpass, would be charged with accelerating progress on the reforms.

Malpass, who announced in February that he would leave his post by 30 June, 2023, flagged the proposed boost in the financing capacity of the bank’s middle-income lending arm – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).

The World Bank, as disclosed by Mr. Malpass, had doubled its financing for global public goods during his presidency, reaching US$100 billion from 2020-2022, and underscored its concerns about “unsustainable levels” of public debt in many developing countries.

“More than half of the world’s poorest countries are in or at high risk of debt distress, and their problems are mounting given higher interest rates and inflation that are leading to capital shortages.
Mr. David Malpass
“However, Governments of developing countries needs to ‘plan for continued financial stress and further its efforts by developing countries to remove wasteful subsidies, improve public procurement and broaden their tax base.”
Mr. David Malpass

More so, Malpass in a interview last month revealed that the World Bank could change its internal lending guidelines to free up $4 billion in lending capacity for the IBRD each year or US$40 billion over 10 years – a sum that falls far short of recommendations made by an independent panel to the Group of 20 major economies last year.

The IBRD in December also raised its sustainable annual lending limit by US$2 billion, beginning in fiscal 2024. Its lending ceiling for fiscal 2022 was US$37.5 billion.