World Bank announces record $100bn support for world’s poorest countries

International development organisation says sum will be deployed to support 78 countries that ‘need it most’. Donor countries committed $23.7bn to replenish the bank’s concessional lending arm, known as the International Development Association, a World Bank spokesperson told the AFP news agency, marking a slight increase from the roughly $23.5bn pledged during the last fundraising round three years ago. “We believe the historic success of this IDA21 replenishment is a vote of confidence and support from donors and clients,” a World Bank statement read, referring to the current IDA funding round. “This funding will be deployed to support the 78 countries that need it most,” World Bank President Ajay Banga said in a separate statement, referring to the developing countries that are eligible for IDA support. IDA has become the single largest source of concessional, or below-market, climate finance, and about two-thirds of all IDA funding over the past decade has gone to support countries in Africa, according to the World Bank, an international development organisation owned by 187 countries.