The UK’s support to the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA)
A review will assessing the value for money of the UK’s financial contribution to the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and how well the UK uses its position as the largest bilateral donor to shape its policies and operations.
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We conducted a review of the UK’s support to the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and made five recommendations. We’ve followed up on the government’s progress implementing our recommendations. Find out more on the ‘Further scrutiny‘ tab.
Summary
IDA aims to reduce poverty by providing zero or low-interest loans and grants for programmes that aim to boost economic growth, reduce inequalities and improve people’s living conditions. It provides loans and grants to countries with low average income levels or countries that are not eligible to receive funding from the World Bank’s other lending body, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
IDA is one of the most important multilateral channels of development assistance for the world’s poorest countries, and it is the single largest source of official development assistance (ODA) overall to Africa. In 2019 IDA disbursed $10.6 billion in Africa, approximately equal to the amount of aid from France, Germany and the UK combined.
The purpose of this review was to assess both the value for money of the UK’s substantial financial contribution to IDA and how well the UK uses its position as the largest bilateral donor to shape its policies and operations.
Sustainable Development Goals
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals relevant to this review are:
