The World Bank Group has announced its investments in Africa hit a record $38 billion in 2024, marking the highest allocation among all regions globally.
This substantial funding is part of the bank’s broader $117.5 billion commitment to tackle critical issues worldwide, as revealed in its 2024 Annual Report released at the ongoing IMF-World Bank Group Annual Meetings.
The report highlights the bank’s intensified focus on Africa, directing $38 billion toward projects in infrastructure, healthcare, and economic reforms to support the continent’s development goals. By comparison, Europe and Central Asia received $24.7 billion, Latin America and the Caribbean $19.4 billion, and East Asia and the Pacific $12.5 billion, each addressing region-specific development needs such as economic recovery, climate resilience, and social protection.
The World Bank emphasized that its support includes a blend of loans, grants, equity investments, and guarantees offered to African governments and private sector partners.
The organization underscored its commitment to addressing Africa’s critical challenges, such as poverty alleviation, climate change adaptation, and long-term economic stability.
World Bank President Ajay Banga, presenting the bank’s 2024 vision, stated that the organization is committed to creating “a world free of poverty on a livable planet,” highlighting an urgent mission amid global issues like rising debt, food insecurity, and unequal COVID-19 recovery.
“In our 80-year history, our mission has rarely been more critical,” Banga said, pointing to the need for immediate action to reverse declining poverty alleviation progress.
He added that the World Bank is undergoing reforms to strengthen collaboration with governments, the private sector, and communities to address interconnected challenges.
In addition to funding, the World Bank launched the “Knowledge Compact for Action,” an initiative to enhance knowledge-sharing with public and private clients.
The bank has also restructured its operations into five focus areas: people, prosperity, planet, infrastructure, and digital. This realignment aims to increase the organization’s efficiency and ability to tackle global issues effectively.
The report also noted several milestones achieved by the World Bank, including providing food assistance to 156 million people, expanding education access to 280 million students, delivering clean water and sanitation to 59 million people, and reaching 287 million people with social protection measures.
These results reflect the bank’s commitment to addressing immediate needs while building long-term resilience in vulnerable regions.
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