We review the literature on the political economy of foreign aid, examining the geopolitical returns generated by Official Development Assistance (ODA). Our paper identifies conditions under which donors are able to influence political and economic outcomes in recipient countries, shape their...

The African Development Fund (ADF) is much less active than the World Bank's IDA in Africa. This predominance of the IDA is only found in Africa. In fact, disbursements by other major regional banks exceed those of the World Bank in their respective regions (Central America and the Caribbean,...

In July 2024, a new Theme Taxonomy was launched for all IBRD/IDA (the Bank) lending operations and Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA) products, refreshing and building on the Theme Taxonomy structure that was launched in July 2016. Theme codes are aligned with World Bank Group goals and...

This publication showcases practical examples of how countries, with financing from International Development Association (IDA) and technical assistance support funded by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), are turning this vision into reality one project at a time -...

Co-financing is greater than the sum of its parts. It is not new, but in the last two years, the World Bank has worked to increase co-financing interest and opportunities among its partners-MDBs, bilateral and UN agencies, and philanthropy. Having multiple partners finance the same project...

This document presents three different views of the World Bank Group (WBG) Scorecard: (1) WBG scorecard view presents all data at the WBG level for a set of 51 indicators (8 Vision indicators, 22 Client Context indicators, and 21 WBG Results indicators). It provides an overview of the WBG's...

The Results and Performance of the World Bank Group 2025 (RAP 2025) report presents a two-part review of the lending and non-lending support of the World Bank Group. Part 1 will focus on trends in project- and country-level effectiveness and will be anchored in the Bank Group's Outcomes...

The World Bank Group Annual Report 2025 presents on World Bank Group activities in fiscal 2025. The Annual Report is prepared by the Executive Directors of ICSID, IFC, MIGA, and the World Bank (IBRD/IDA) in accordance with the by-laws of the institutions. The President of the World Bank Group...

MFMod is the World Bank’s work-horse macro-structural economic modeling framework. It exists both as a linked system of 184 country-specific models that can be solved independently or as a larger system (MFMod), and as a series of standalone customized models, known collectively as MFMod...

The World Bank Group strategy emphasizes that private capital is critical for the investments required to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in client countries (World Bank and IMF 2023). A large gap persists between the resources of governments and donors and the investment required...

This Country Program Evaluation assesses the performance and effectiveness of the World Bank Group's support to Georgia in achieving the country's development objectives. In the decade leading up to the evaluation period, Georgia pursued economic reforms to attract critical investments for...

This evaluation assesses the relevance and effectiveness of the World Bank Group's support to Tanzania between Fiscal Years 2012 and 2022. Over the past decade, Tanzania has experienced resilient growth, with an average annual per capita GDP increase of 2.2%. However, poverty remains widespread...

In Africa, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face a chronic financing gap that hinders their growth and the continent's economic development. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) are often seen as a solution to bridge this gap, particularly through indirect support to local banks....

Both World Bank shareholders and the Bank’s management have emphasised the need for large-scale private investment to achieve development and climate goals. For the World Bank Group, this means collaborating more closely between its different institutions, an issue that World Bank President...

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) are government-owned entities that play an increasingly important role in supporting private sector projects in developing countries. This paper synthesizes key findings from the academic and grey literature to provide a comprehensive understanding of...

In 2012, Somalia was considered a failed state characterized by multiple, protracted, and deeply rooted fragility and development challenges. Today, Somalia remains one of the poorest and most fragile countries in the world. The country continues to be affected by ongoing civil conflict, a...

The World Bank Group considers itself a "Knowledge Bank." The Bank's knowledge work contributes to development outcomes both by informing clients in various policy and reform areas, and by informing staff and clients on the selection, design, and implementation of lending operations. This...

Does foreign aid target the poorest people in developing countries? We examine this question in the context of World Bank foreign aid projects at the local level in 50 countries worldwide. We combine georeferenced data on World Bank foreign aid projects with remote-sensing data on nighttime...

This Country Program Evaluation (CPE) assesses the relevance, effectiveness, and adaptability of the World Bank Group's support to Nepal from FY 2014 through FY23. The evaluation period spans the FY14-18 Country Partnership Strategy and the FY19-24 Country Partnership Framework (CPF). The CPE's...

The 2024 Results and Performance of the World Bank Group report - also known as the RAP- is the fourteenth annual report in the series. The RAP series aggregates and interprets evidence on World Bank Group performance, mainly using IEG's validations of World Bank, International Finance...

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) play a key role in providing developing countries with affordable, long-term finance. In 2024, to help meet development challenges, the G20 agreed on a roadmap to make the MDBs bigger, better and more effective and recommended MDBs conduct resource needs...

Blended finance is central to development finance, catalyzing private capital alongside public resources to address global challenges in developing countries. Despite its growing importance, empirical evidence on its ability to leverage private lenders' credit supply remains limited. This paper...

The spread of illicit activity across the global economy presents significant challenges to international development. Despite the well-recognised global incidence of corruption, fraud, and money laundering in development-focused investment projects, the responses of the multilateral development...

These remarks were delivered by the World Bank Group President Ajaya Banga at the IDA for Africa Heads of State Summit on April 29, 2024. The main idea revolves around the potential for transformative change in Africa through strategic investments and development assistance. The President...

The shock of the pandemic and subsequent overlapping crises has led to a reversal in development by exacerbating the challenges facing the most vulnerable 75 economies eligible for concessional loans and grants from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA). Over 2020-24, per...

Papua New Guinea has abundant resources in the form of oil and mineral wealth. But a complex set of factors, including systemic gender inequality, underinvestment in non-extractive sectors, and fragility compounded by vulnerability to disasters caused by natural hazards act as barriers to...

Bangladesh has demonstrated remarkable development progress in the last five decades. The country's journey from one of the poorest countries at independence to a lower-middle-income nation within four decades is a testament to its resilience, policy decisions, and commitment to reducing poverty...