India · Bangkok Post
World Bank in talks with dozens of countries about crisis aid
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The World Bank is in discussions with 30 to 40 countries about potential crisis aid to help them manage energy shocks and price increases triggered by the war in the Middle East, its president, Ajay Banga, told Reuters in an interview.
Key facts
- Banga said the global economy had proven fairly resilient, in part due to big AI investments and adjustments in supply and demand for oil, which meant that few countries had sought the initial $25 billion in crisis funds that the World
- The World Bank is in discussions with 30 to 40 countries about potential crisis aid to help them manage energy shocks and price increases triggered by the war in the Middle East, its president, Ajay Banga, told Reuters in an interview.
- The World Bank estimates show that developing countries owe external creditors about $400 billion in 2026, with interest payments alone comprising one-third of the total.
- The World Bank last month announced that it attracted a record $112 billion in private capital in the year ended June versus $69 billion a year earlier, and more than triple the 2022 total before Banga, a former Mastercard CEO, became
- There is pressure, and so I think maybe over the coming months, more countries will come for some slice of that first $50 to $60 billion,"
- Banga said, referring to the initial $25 billion plus another $35 billion that countries could tap by diverting resources from already approved World Bank projects.
Summary
Banga said the global economy had proven fairly resilient, in part due to big AI investments and adjustments in supply and demand for oil, which meant that few countries had sought the initial $25 billion in crisis funds that the World Bank had made available when the war began in late February.
However, a sharp spike in diesel and fertilizer prices and other factors, including the looming super El Nino weather effect, were adding to challenges facing developing countries, Banga said in an interview ahead of this week's annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.