It is a pleasure to present the IDA18 Retrospective: Investing in Growth, Resilience and Opportunity through Innovation. In 2016, our shareholders made possible a landmark replenishment, with 55 countries pledging US$23 billion in contributions that resulted in a record delivery of US$78 billion to support IDA clients’ development goals during the July 2017 to June 2020 period. This report examines how IDA delivered on its policy package during the three-year period.
As we look back on IDA18, there were notable departures from previous replenishments. These include innovations related to IDA’s financing model, replenishment process and targeted support. Financial innovation was a key feature of IDA18, with IDA mobilizing funding and leveraging IDA’s equity through tapping bond markets for the first time. In addition, IDA18 significantly ramped up its focus on humanitarian-development and bolstered support for clients experiencing situations of fragility. IDA18 also introduced the Private Sector Window, a mechanism to mitigate risks and catalyze private investment – the first for a multilateral development bank. Another key feature of IDA18 was the stepped-up representation of clients within the expanding coalition of over 60 donors and client governments which, together with the addition of an external co-chair, provided critical input to influence key features of the replenishment.
IDA18’s achievements supported strong results in the areas of gender, climate change; fragile and conflict-affected situations and Small States, and governance and institutions. During IDA18, IDA also adapted to and addressed unforeseen events by flexibly reallocating resources, which proved valuable in the rapid and strong response to the COVID-19 crisis.
As the COVID-19 pandemic became widespread in the final months of IDA18 and continuing into IDA19, it became clear that IDA countries need to redouble efforts to recover, rebuild, and achieve their long-term development goals after suffering setbacks from the cascading crises. Going forward, IDA will maintain a line of sight to long-term development goals, while focusing on immediate to mid-term crisis recovery. The IDA framework provides a strong foundation to support client needs for a green, resilient, and inclusive future.
I look forward to continuing our partnership with IDA’s global coalition to support IDA countries to address these challenges.
David Malpass
President
World Bank Group
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