By Andrew Pring | 2 September 2014
The World Bank is to provide up to $18bn of financial support to India over the next three years, president Jim Yong Kim has announced.
Kim made the commitment during his ongoing visit to the country, which is already the largest client for the World Bank, having been offered $6.4bn to the country during its last fiscal year. This money is intended to stimulate growth and help lift up to 270 million Indians out of poverty.
Kim made the funding announcement of additional funding after holding discussions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These focused on infrastructure investment and improving education and training, including how to better equip the 10 million people who leave rural areas for towns and cities each year for jobs.
‘From my discussions with Prime Minister Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley, it is clear that they are committed to increasing India’s economic growth,’ Kim said.
‘I assured them that the World Bank Group will bring to bear all possible knowledge and financing to help them in this task. The World Bank Group will be ready to provide financial support worth $15-18bn over the next three years.’
The additional funding is to be drawn down from a variety of sources.
Of those announced so far, International Development Association donors have agreed to provide $3.4bn over the next three years as transitional support, while the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has increased the single borrower limit for India from $17.5bn to $20bn.
In addition, the World Bank Group’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation has established a $1bn offshore rupee bond programme, intended to strengthen India’s capital markets and attract foreign investments.
