Debt and climate change are defining challenges for many countries in Africa. Governments across the continent are seeing their debt burdens mount—some to unsustainable levels—as they race to mobilize resources to adapt and respond to the increasingly severe climate crisis.

World Bank loan terms are becoming increasingly attractive as global interest rates soar. This is not because the Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loans have gotten cheaper, but because the average emerging market’s (EM) borrowing costs have risen so much more dram...

Not every country at risk of debt distress is at risk of a famine, and vice-versa. But for the handful of countries that are vulnerable to both, the interplay between the two crises could exact a devastating human toll.

Policy-based guarantees (PBGs) have long been a multilateral development bank (MDB) instrument in search of a purpose. PBGs—a credit enhancement for sovereign market borrowing—have been around for decades but their uptake has been limited. In most instances, they have proven remarkably effective in ...

On the heels of last year’s landmark $93 billion replenishment of the World Bank’s IDA—and with the international community preoccupied with responding to Ukraine—the replenishment of the African Development Fund cannot be an afterthought.

When sudden shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic cripple an economy’s ability to rapidly raise revenue and reallocate limited resources, multilateral development banks (MDBs) can lead the crisis response. MDBs provide a range of instruments that support countries in different ways and at different peri...