African leaders seek record World Bank financing to combat climate change

African leaders on Monday called for rich countries to commit record contributions to a low-interest World Bank facility for developing nations that they rely on to help fund their development and combat climate change. Donors will make their cash pledges to the International Development Association, a World Bank institution that offers loans with low interest rates and long tenures, at a conference to be held in Japan in December. "We call on our partners to meet us at this historic moment of solidarity and respond effectively by increasing their IDA contributions... to at least $120-billion," Kenya's President William Ruto told a meeting of African leaders and the World Bank to discuss IDA funding. African economies were facing a "deepening development and debt crisis that threatens our economic stability, and urgent climate emergencies that demand immediate and collective action for our planet's survival," Ruto said. He cited Kenya's own devastating floods and a severe drought affecting Southern African nations such as Malawi. If the donors pledge the minimum amount suggested by African leaders, it will be a new high after the last round of fundraising in 2021, which raked in $93-billion.