World Bank shifts focus to large projects

The World Bank will move away from small-scale projects to focus on larger ones where its involvement increases the odds of attracting private funds, president Jim Yong Kim said yesterday.

The bank must be more selective in its lending and be ready to abandon programmes that could be done better by other groups, Kim said in a speech to George Washington University students. That did not mean it would stop financing whole sectors such as agriculture or infrastructure, he told reporters afterwards.

"It's trying to be focused on what we can do that will really have an impact," Kim said after the speech. "Many of these large-scale projects are going to require private-sector funding and we know we can help."

Kim is due to submit a strategy next week to its 188 member countries for meeting the goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting incomes for the world's poorest 40 per cent. With the bank's limited lending power, reaching those targets would require more public and private funds, he has said.

For example, the bank, which last week approved a US$140 million project to replace ageing gas turbines at a power plant in Myanmar, said its private-sector arm was working to bring private investors into the country's energy market.

A Uganda hydropower project operating since last year, for which the bank provided financing and guarantees, attracted US$900 million in private capital, the lender said.