IDA18 Scale-Up Facility: Overview

The IDA18 Scale-Up Facility is designed to scale up IDA financing for country-specific and/or regional operations during the IDA18 period (July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020). The facility makes available up to $6.2 billion to IDA countries on non-concessional (IBRD) lending terms. These resources are in addition to the regular concessional resources that countries will receive in IDA18. Given IDA’s strong emphasis on country debt sustainability, only IDA-eligible countries at low or moderate risk of debt distress will be eligible to utilize financing under the IDA18 Scale-Up Facility

Overview

The IDA18 Scale-Up Facility is designed to scale up IDA financing for country-specific and/or regional operations during the IDA18 period (July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020). The facility makes available up to $6.2 billion to IDA countries on non-concessional (IBRD) lending terms. These resources are in addition to the regular concessional resources that countries will receive in IDA18.

Given IDA’s strong emphasis on country debt sustainability, only IDA-eligible countries at low or moderate risk of debt distress will be eligible to utilize financing under the IDA18 Scale-Up Facility.

Operations financed under the facility may include:

Investment Project Financing in any sector, including use of guarantees;
Development Policy Financing, including CAT-DDOs; and
Program for Results financing.

Allocation priority will be given to IDA projects – single country or regional – with potential for strong returns on investment, development impact and growth dividends, with allocations appropriately balanced between IDA-only and IDA-IBRD blend countries.

The following additional elements will help prioritize operations proposed for the facility:

Debt sustainability: The first prioritization criterion will ensure that low-risk countries are considered as the highest priority, followed by moderate risk countries.
Capacity: Countries with the capacity to absorb the resources well (assessed by considering both a country’s CPIA score along with its portfolio performance) will be further prioritized.
Other key considerations: Particular attention will also be given to “soft prioritization filters,” which may include an operation’s ability to crowd in resources; support resilience building; deliver benefits across borders, including infrastructure in line with low carbon development; and/or drive economic transformation, including through support of countries’ nationally determined contributions.