Online Media Briefing Center (OMBC) news for accredited journalists
Highlights
The annual Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) for Africa confirms that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) weathered 2023 relatively well thanks to credible economic and social policy reforms.
The platform, housed at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), brings together products and experts from the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and MIGA for simplicity, efficiency, and speed. It aims to boost WBG annual guarantee issuance to $20 billion by 2030.
The modest 0.7% growth rate reflects large variances in regional growth, but remittances remained a crucial source of external finance for developing countries in 2023, bolstering the current accounts of several countries grappling with food insecurity and debt issues.
The Academy encompasses all three Bank Group institutions—the World Bank, IFC (International Finance Corporation), and MIGA—in one platform and will help ensure that the best global knowledge is driving development, informing projects that can be scaled and replicated, and influencing global conversations.
The Bank and the Fund are pleased to announce the formation of a group of external advisors to help guide the exercise, comprising Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance of Indonesia; Patrick Achi, former Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire; and Mark Malloch Brown, former Deputy Secretary-General of the UN.
Domestic food price inflation remains high in many low- and middle-income countries. Inflation higher than 5% is experienced in 59.1% of low-income countries (no change since the last update on May 30, 2024), 63% of lower-middle-income countries (no change), 36% of upper-middle-income countries (5.0 percentage points higher), and 10.9 percent of high-income countries (3.6 percentage points lower).
Canada’s announcement follows a similar one in April, when a first group of 11 countries committed more than US$11 billion to hybrid capital and a new Portfolio Guarantee Platform. With Canada’s contribution, this funding could generate additional lending headroom of more than US$70 billion over 10 years.
Historic Fund will assist developing countries hit by adverse effects of climate change.
In a historic decision at COP28, an agreement was reached by 198 countries to move forward with a fund to provide financial support to vulnerable countries hardest hit by climate impact. Since COP28, the World Bank has worked with urgency to operationalize the Fund as a World Bank hosted financial intermediary fund (FIF) for an interim period of four years.