The World Bank Group has mobilised a record $112 billion in private capital for developing economies in 2026, more than tripling the amount recorded four years earlier and taking total financing and capital mobilisation by the institution to more than $200 billion during the year.
The World Bank Group, in a statement on Thursday said Private Capital Mobilised (PCM) rose from $35 billion in 2022 to $112 billion in 2026, reflecting efforts over the past three years to make its operations faster and simpler and deepen collaboration between its public and private sector arms.
The increase was recorded across different income groups, the global lender said, with lower-middle-income countries attracting $37 billion in private capital in 2026, compared with $14 billion in 2022.
For upper-middle-income countries, private capital mobilisation rose from $12 billion to $50 billion over the same period, while mobilisation for low-income countries remained at about $3 billion.
Similarly, Africa recorded a substantial increase, with private capital mobilisation rising from approximately $9 billion in 2022 to $22 billion in 2026, representing an increase of nearly 150 per cent.
The World Bank Group said the results followed changes introduced to improve its engagement with the private sector, including the expansion of guarantees and local-currency financing, efforts to address foreign-exchange constraints and the development of new equity instruments and investment structures.
It added that it had also brought its public and private sector operations closer together at country level, with a single point of contact for its work and integrated strategies tailored to the development priorities of individual countries.
In his comments, the World Bank Group President, Ajay Banga, said the institution had responded to calls from shareholders and clients to deploy its financing and knowledge more effectively to attract private investment into developing economies.
“Three years ago, our shareholders and clients were clear: Utilise World Bank Group financing and knowledge to mobilise more private capital and become a better partner to the private sector. We changed how we work to do that—faster, simpler, and as one World Bank Group,” Banga said.
“The result is $112 billion mobilised this year, more than three times where we started. But the number only matters if the capital goes where it can create opportunity and jobs. That is the work ahead: keep removing barriers, keep expanding the pool of investors, and keep driving more capital into developing economies,” he added.
The institution also disclosed that it issued more than $25 billion in guarantees in 2026, exceeding its target of $20 billion in annual issuance by 2030 four years ahead of schedule.
The growth in guarantees was led by the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, established in 2024 to provide clients and investors with a single access point for guarantee products across the institution.
According to the World Bank Group, the mobilisation of private capital is closely linked to its jobs agenda, given the projected demographic pressures facing developing economies.
It said 1.2 billion young people in developing economies would reach working age over the next 10 to 15 years, while only about 420 million jobs were projected to be created.
The institution noted that the private sector currently creates nine out of every 10 jobs in developing economies, making increased private investment central to efforts to expand employment opportunities.
Besides, it stated that its jobs strategy focuses on three areas: Investment in human and physical infrastructure, the creation of business-ready regulatory environments and support for private businesses to scale.
The World Bank Group also identified infrastructure and energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism and value-added manufacturing as five sectors with significant potential to generate investment and employment.
It said 55 per cent of its total financing in 2026, covering both its own financing and mobilised private capital, went to those sectors.
The institution said the capital was also reaching lower-income economies, where regional and local investors were increasingly complementing international capital in financing businesses and supporting job creation.
The World Bank Group said it is now seeking to expand the pool of investors able to participate in projects in developing economies through its originate-to-distribute initiative.
Under the initiative, the bank said it is developing mechanisms to package and distribute investments to institutional investors at greater scale, with the aim of connecting long-term pools of global capital to investment opportunities in developing countries.
The institution said its ambition was to mobilise more capital from a wider range of sources and deploy it towards job creation and wider economic opportunities in developing economies.
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Follow us on:
