US President Joe Biden has pledged a $4 billion contribution to the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) fund for the world’s poorest countries, two sources familiar with the pledge said on Monday.
Biden announced the U.S. commitment during a closed-door session of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The amount is a record and substantially exceeds the $3.5 billion that Washington committed to in the previous round of IDA funding replenishment in December 2021.
A White House spokesperson in Washington declined to comment on the World Bank’s IDA replenishment.
It is unclear whether US President-elect Donald Trump, who has proposed cutting foreign aid in the past, will honor Biden’s pledge as he and billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk want to cut American spending through a new dashboard on government efficiency. An appropriations bill by the U.S. Congress to fund the effort likely won’t be introduced until Trump takes office in January.
A spokesperson for Trump’s transition team could not immediately be reached for comment.
“HISTORICAL” COMMITMENT.
Earlier in Rio de Janeiro, US Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer told reporters that Biden would announce a “historic” commitment to replenishing AID.
Finer also told reporters at a G20 summit briefing that Biden will launch a bilateral clean energy partnership when he meets President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Tuesday.
The World Bank’s IDA fund, which mainly provides grants and very low-interest loans to poorer countries, is replenished every three years and a donor conference is scheduled for December 6.
World Bank President Ajay Banga aims to reach a record amount of more than $93 billion starting in December 2021, amid growing demands from poor nations in Africa and elsewhere grappling with crushing debt, climate disasters, conflict and other pressures.
Banga told Reuters in October that a $120 billion replenishment was possible, but that the goal would require some substantial increases in countries’ commitments.
Biden’s new commitment to the United States is about 14.3% higher than his contribution for 2021. At the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in October, Spain announced plans to increase its contribution of 37% to $423 million.
In September, Denmark announced a 40% increase in its contribution, bringing it to around $492 million.
Source: Terra
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