International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

Organizational profile:

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, it supports the World Bank Group’s mission by providing loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, as well as by coordinating responses to regional and global challenges. Created in 1944 to help Europe rebuild after World War II, IBRD joins with the International Development Association (IDA), which focuses on the poorest countries, to form the World Bank.   

The World Bank’s three financing instruments are Investment Project Financing (IPF), Development Policy Financing (DPF), and the Program-for-Results (PforR). World Bank borrowers can choose between these financing instruments depending on the type of development challenge they are trying to address. These can take the form of an IBRD loan, or IDA credit/grant or guarantee. 

IBRD works with the public sector (sovereigns and sub-sovereign entities) to design and implement financial products and provide advisory services to maximize their access to financing and mitigate risks. IBRD finances investments across all sectors and provides technical support and expertise at each stage of a project.  IBRD’s resources not only supply borrowing countries with needed financing, but also serve as a vehicle for global knowledge transfer and technical assistance.  

Investment Project Financing (IPF) provides financing to governments for activities that create the physical/social infrastructure necessary to reduce poverty and create sustainable development. 

IPF is used in all sectors, with a concentration in the infrastructure, human development, agriculture, and public administration sectors. IPF is focused on the medium to long-term (5 to10 year horizon) and supports a wide range of activities including capital-intensive investments, agricultural development, service delivery, credit and grant delivery [including micro-credit], community-based development, and institution building.  

Development Policy Financing (DPF) supports policy and institutional reforms to help clients achieve sustainable growth and poverty reduction. DPFs played a key role for reinforcing foundations for long-term development, crisis response, and preparedness. In recent years, DPFs have included a diversity of policies and institutional reforms for climate action, including transforming fiscal policy to support climate goals; supporting long-term climate strategies; mainstreaming climate in public financial management; greening the financial system; and fostering long-term resilient decarbonization in key sectors.  

Program-for-Results links disbursement of World Bank funds directly to the delivery of defined results, helping countries improve the design and implementation of their own development programs and achieve lasting results by strengthening institutions, enhancing systems, and building capacity.   

The World Bank Group supports countries in their efforts to harness the potential of forests and terrestrial ecosystems to reduce poverty, contribute to economic growth, and protect and strengthen the environmental services they provide — both locally and globally. To this end, the World Bank brings together stakeholders across economic sectors to implement integrated landscape programs that enhance people’s livelihoods while delivering ecosystem benefits such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and land restoration. 

In addition, the World Bank Green Bond program is part of the IBRD funding program, connecting capital markets to development. The World Bank Green Bond raises funds from fixed income investors to support World Bank lending for eligible projects that seek to mitigate climate change or help affected people adapt to it. The product was designed in partnership with Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) to respond to specific investor demand for a triple-A rated fixed income product that supports projects that address the climate challenge.  

Financing Instrument: Equity, Loans, Guarantees, Technical Assistance

Project scale:

In fiscal year 2022, the World Bank’s active portfolio consisted of 127 projects and a total net investment on forest-related issues of $7.0 billion dollars, up from 76 projects and a total net investment of $1.9 billion in 2016. The average net investment size per forest project in fiscal year 2022 was $97M. These figures merge World Bank lending (IBRD and IDA), Trust Funds, and GEF. 

Recipient countries regions/country groups: Global

Recipient categories: Governments

Eligibility Criteria: Eligibility for IBRD products is determined primarily by the member country’s per capita income and creditworthiness. Exceptionally, other factors (such as size, for certain small island economies) may determine a country’s eligibility for IBRD products.  

Application guidelines:

The World Bank Group works with a borrowing country's government and other stakeholders to determine how financial and other assistance can be designed to have the largest impact. After analytical work is conducted, the borrower and the Bank Group produce a strategy, called Country Partnership Framework, to identify the country’s highest priorities for reducing poverty and improving living standards. Identified projects can range across the economic and social spectrum from infrastructure, to education, to health, to government financial management. The World Bank and the government agree on an initial project concept and its beneficiaries, and the Bank's project team outlines the basic elements in a Project Concept Note.  

Projects defined as eligible for the World Bank’s Green Bond program are selected by World Bank environment specialists and support the transition to low-carbon and climate resilient development and growth in client countries. 

Last updated: 30 August 2023