World Bank Pres Ajay Banga LIVE | World Bank Boost lending Capacity By $30 Bln Over 10 Years | N18G

World Bank Pres Ajay Banga LIVE | World Bank boost lending capacity by $30 bln Over 10 years | N18G
WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The World Bank, under pressure to do more to help developing countries cope with climate change, voted on Tuesday to change its internal lending guidelines to free up $30 billion in additional lending capacity over the next decade, World Bank President Ajay Banga told Reuters.
Banga said the bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) arm would lower its equity-to-lending ratio by 1 percentage point to 18%, taking on a bit more risk, in line with an independent report prepared for the Group of 20 (G20) major economies.
The move, coupled with changes in the bank's pricing policies, means the bank has increased its lending capacity by a total of $150 billion by adjusting its balance sheet, Banga said in a Reuters NEXT Newsmaker interview.
The changes come at a time of mounting global challenges such as the Ukraine war, escalating violence in the Middle East and massive government debt levels.
The IBRD last changed its equity-to-lending ratio in 2023, dropping it to 19% from 20%.
A live broadcast interview with World Bank President Ajay Banga. As the world’s large multilateral development bank, the World Bank is under intense pressure to boost lending to developing countries and emerging markets facing trillions of dollars of annual costs to deal with climate change, and to address poverty and boost economic growth. Banga, the former Mastercard CEO who took over as World Bank chief in June 2023, has ambitious goals to retool the 70-year-old institution to meet today’s challenges and has set a $100 billion target for replenishing the bank’s lending arm for low-income countries. Reuters White House Correspondent Andrea Shalal speaks with Banga a week before finance chiefs and central bankers from around the world arrive in Washington for the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
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