Guardian Business: Business and Countries

guardian business: The Bank is currently seeking contributions from rich countries for the 19th replenishment of the International Development Association IDA 19 which provides soft loans and grants for countries in financial difficulty, according to The Guardian. Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at Business Desk Britain is one of the few countries to meet the United Nations target for spending 0.7% of national income on development assistance, and the size of the aid budget meant it was the biggest single donor to IDA 18, a three-year 75bn 58bn round of funding which expires in 2020. Speaking in Washington, the international development secretary, Alok Sharma, said the size of the UK's contribution to the Bank's concessional loan facility for the world's least-developed countries would depend on a more focused anti-poverty approach. Sharma, with the Bank keen to raise even more money for IDA 19, made it clear he intended to use the UK's leverage to secure change. Almost all 10-year-olds in world's poorest countries struggle to read Read more Sharma said The UK is leading the way to build sustainable economies. In a meeting with Malpass at the Bank's annual meeting in Washington, Sharma said action was needed to Increase the Bank's financial support to tackle the climate crisis, including helping the most vulnerable communities to become more resilient and preparing for potential natural disasters Preserve biodiversity and invest in innovative nature-based solutions such as reforestation Focus on mobilising private-sector investment for the poorest countries and making a priority of green, quality infrastructure projects that form the backbone of economic growth Bring about improved debt transparency and sustainability, through balancing the need for finance with limits on how much governments are borrowing from different sources before the International Development Association agrees more loans Provide extra money and an increase in World Bank staff based in fragile and conflict-stricken countries Improve rights of women and girls through increasing access to safe family planning services, ensuring girls can go to school and stronger laws against gender-based violence. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.