Australia’s contributions to the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA)
The International Development Association (IDA) is one of the World Bank’s five development financing agencies. IDA focuses on the world’s poorest countries and provides them with low or interest-free loans, or grants, to help them meet their development needs.
IDA supports a broad spectrum of development activities such as primary education, basic health services, clean water and sanitation, agriculture, business climate improvements, infrastructure, and institutional reforms.
By the end of 2021, IDA has provided US$458 billion credits and grants to 114 countries. A total of 74 countries are currently eligble to receive IDA resources, including 10 Pacific Island countries. There are over 2,900 active projects in 137 countries, among those 59 are in the Pacific (see the list of eligble countries here and a map of where IDA works here).
A substantial amount of IDA’s funding comes from contributions from developed country governments. Every three years, donors meet at IDA replenishment rounds and commit to providing funding. Due to COVID impact on IDA countries, the 20th replenishment was advanced by one year and will cover the period from July 2022 to June 2025.
IDA20 raised a total of US$93 billion, a 13% increase from the previous replenishment of US$82 billion. About US$23.5 billion of that came from government donors, US$11 billion was carried over from IDA19, and the rest was made up of capital market borrowing, repayments and the World Bank’s own contributions. Donor contributions stagnated from IDA19, which raised US$23.4 billion, and number of government donors decreased from 56 countries in IDA19 to 52 in IDA20.
Australia is placed at 18th in the latest funding round, the same as IDA19 but down from 12th in IDA18. Australia’s total contribution to IDA20 was AU$488 million (US$368.7 million), falling from AU$499 million in IDA19. Yet as noted in this blog, Australian dollar had appreciated against the US dollar, so Australia’s contribution in USD actually increased from 349 million to 369 million. Further considering that IDA20 was brought forward by one year and the pledged contributions are paid in cash over a decade, Australia’s contribution to IDA would effectively increase in coming years.
Read more on Australia's IDA commitments on the Devpolicy Blog.