World Bank.

In plain English

The World Bank is a group of institutions owned by member governments that finances development in low and middle income countries. Its lending arms provide long-term loans, credits, and grants for projects such as roads, power, water, schools, and health systems, along with policy-based lending tied to agreed reforms. Funding comes from member capital and from borrowing in global bond markets, which lets it lend at rates well below what many borrowing countries could get on their own. It also publishes some of the most widely used development data in the world.

01Why it matters

World Bank data sits underneath many of the country comparisons you see in news and research, and its lending decisions shape infrastructure that affects growth for decades.

02The math, step by step

Say the Bank lends 400 million dollars for a power grid at 2 percent over 25 years while the country would pay 8 percent in the market. On 400 million, that 6 point gap is about 24 million dollars a year of avoided interest in the early years of the loan.

Illustrative example. The amounts here are hypothetical, chosen to show how the math works, not real quoted rates or figures.

03What this is NOT

04Receipts

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