World Bank Group Timeline

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approves the first set of emergency support operations for developing countries to aid in their response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) response. While these first projects amount to $1.9 billion in funding and will assist 25 countries, the World Bank Group intends to deploy up to $160 billion over the following 15 months, including $50 billion of IDA resources on grant and highly concessional terms, to help countries respond to immediate health consequences and bolster economic recovery. Bank Group President David Malpass emphasizes that there will be a strong poverty focus in the operations, saying, "The poorest and most vulnerable countries will likely be hit the hardest, and our teams around the world remain focused on country-level and regional solutions to address the ongoing crisis.” The World Bank Group's work to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 will also extend to a call for action on the debt of countries most vulnerable to the virus's economic impacts. In the weeks that follow, G20 countries will, at the urging of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF), commit to the suspension of bilateral debt payments for the world's poorest countries.