The commitment was made during the course of the concluding meeting of the 20th Replenishment round of IDA (IDA20) which was convened virtually on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th December.
While the Fund is usually replenished every three years, IDA20 was brought forward by one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic in order to ensure extra funds were made available to meet the demands of some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.
The policy package agreed is IDA’s most ambitious to date and Ireland and other donor nations pledged a combined $23.5 billion in contributions which will be leveraged by IDA to deliver $93 billion in support.
Minister for Finance and Ireland’s Governor at the World Bank, Paschal Donohoe, T.D., commented,
“This pledge marks Ireland’s largest ever contribution to IDA and reinforces our commitment to support the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries – who have been amongst those most badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The IDA20 policy objectives closely align with Ireland’s international development priorities and climate action ambitions, and our strong support of this Replenishment reflects this. We are confident that the agreed package can help curtail and reverse some of the developmental losses suffered by IDA countries as a result of the crisis, recover lost ground toward the 2030 agenda and also focus on a green, resilient and inclusive future.”
Ireland’s IDA pledge of almost €106 million, which will be encashed over 9 years commencing in 2023, will be credited towards the Government’s commitment to increase development spending to 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income by 2030.
