ABSTRACT
The World Bank lends financial support and provides technical assistance to developing countries and those in economic transition. The World Bank is made up of two organizations, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which was established in 1945 and has as its clients middle-income country governments, and the International Development Association (IDA), which was established in 1960 and which provides credits to poorer client country 2 governments at concessionary rates. 3 Currently, the World Bank has 184 member countries 4 and assists its client countries (about 100 countries with nearly 5 billion inhabitants) in reducing poverty 5 and supporting environmentally and socially sustainable development. 6 The basic focus of World Bank assistance to any given country is determined by a country assistance strategy (the priority activities and reforms that comprise the mutually agreed programme in the country that will be supported by the Bank) to reduce poverty in a sustainable manner. This priority setting is supported by country specific analytical work as well as by 16 Bank-wide sectoral strategies, including the Bank's Environment Strategy, approved by the Board of Directors in July 2001 (World Bank, 2001). Lending by IDA and IBRD over the last three years has averaged a total of about US$20 billion per annum. During 2003–2004, two-thirds of this lending went to investment and one-third to macroeconomic and sectoral adjustment.
