World Bank in talks with 30 to 40 countries on war crisis aid, Banga says before Bangkok meetings

The World Bank is talking to 30 to 40 countries about emergency help for the energy and price shock caused by the Middle East war, its president Ajay Banga told Reuters in Bangkok, in an interview carried by Business Recorder on Sunday 11 October. The IMF and World Bank annual meetings open in the Thai capital this week.

The money on offer

Up to $100 billion would be more than the $70 billion the Bank paid out during the pandemic. So far few countries have drawn on the first $25 billion; more want to reshape existing projects than tap the crisis window, Banga said. He also pointed to sharp rises in diesel and fertiliser prices and the coming "super El Nino" as pressures ahead.

Debt is the other worry

Developing countries owe foreign creditors about $400 billion in 2026, a third of it interest. The Bank and the IMF are working on ways to cut that cost, including swaps that replace expensive debt with cheaper, Bank-guaranteed borrowing and spend the savings on schools, health and water. Angola and Ivory Coast have had such swaps; Banga said 14 or 15 more are in the pipeline.

The Bank also says it drew a record $112 billion of private money into projects in the year to June, up from $69 billion. South Asia received $19.2 billion of the total. Low-income countries got about $3 billion, which Banga called not enough.

What it means for Pakistan

Pakistan is not named in the interview, but it fits the profile Banga describes: an oil importer hit by higher fuel prices, with heavy external debt payments. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is in Bangkok for the meetings from 12 to 18 October (our report on his schedule), and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday he hopes the next $1.2 billion IMF tranche arrives before the end of the year.

At home the war shows up in pump prices: PSO's ex-depot Karachi price is Rs 398.30 a litre for petrol and Rs 396.24 for diesel on 11 October. Track both on our petrol price and diesel price pages, and the rupee on the dollar rate page.