Active Portfolio of Projects

The Quality of the World Bank’s Operations: Sustained Improvement

Following five years of solid improvement, the development riskiness of the Bank’s portfolio has been cut in half and is now the lowest it has been in many years. As a result, some $16 billion of loans and credits are now better positioned to deliver results. Improvements over the five-year period have been broad based, covering virtually all regions and sectors.

Findings of the Bank’s Annual Report on Portfolio Performance include improved relevance of Bank assistance, consulting of stakeholders, attention to likely social and environmental impacts, oversight of fiduciary aspects, collaboration with partners, and focus on results and problem solving. Building on progress and sustaining efforts will be crucial.

The quality of projects under implementation has improved substantially^a…

The quality of economic and sector analytical work is also improving^a…

These gains are beginning to show up in independent evaluations of projects that have closed ^b

a. Data refer to the evaluation assessments by the Quality Assurance Group of a sample of recently approved and ongoing projects each year. Historical year shown represents the first year for which data are available. Calendar year figures are preliminary.

b. Data refer to independent evaluation assessments by the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) of projects that have completed their loan disbursement phase and have exited the Bank’s active lending portfolio. Results for fiscal 2000 exits are preliminary, based on all currently available independent assessments, covering roughly 45 percent, as reported in the Annual Report for Development Effectiveness 2000.