Today, Thursday 28 November, the UK government announced a pledge of £1.98bn to the World Bank International Development Association (IDA) 21st replenishment round.

This is a 40% increase on the UK’s previous IDA20 replenishment and commits the UK to £1.96bn for IDA over three years.

In reaction to the announcement, Gideon Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Bond, the UK network for NGOs, said: 

“We welcome the UK government’s commitment to significantly increase its contribution to the World Bank’s IDA 21st replenishment. This decision demonstrates vital leadership ahead of the upcoming pledging conference and signals the UK’s recognition of IDA’s pivotal role in addressing global poverty and supporting lower-income countries.

To ensure that delivering on this pledge doesn’t lead to damaging tradeoffs in other areas of UK aid, the government should commit to increasing the UK aid budget beyond 0.5% of GNI and set a clear path toward a scaled return to 0.7% of GNI in the upcoming Spending Review.”