Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank, stated on Friday that the development lender has identified 20 nations with which it can collaborate on essential minerals development projects and has set a goal to quadruple its critical minerals business in five years.
In prepared remarks to a plenary session at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Bangkok, Banga disclosed the new objective.
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“In critical minerals, we plan to quintuple our business in five years,” Banga said. “This week, we launched our first country compacts with MDB partners—to build local industries and keep more jobs and value at home.”
In contrast to $3.6 billion in the fiscal 2021–2025 term, the World Bank’s revised Metals and Minerals implementation plan aims for $19 billion in key minerals financing throughout the fiscal 2026–2030 timeframe.
The United States, the World Bank’s largest shareholder, has urged the agency to allocate more funding for critical minerals development.
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Earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed his desire for the bank to contribute more to the development of essential mineral mining and processing capacity through project de-risking, financing, and infrastructure investment. Deep-sea mining initiatives are part of this, he said.
Although the bank’s metals plan called for a “precautionary approach” to the emerging industry and stipulates that any participation and investments must be in accordance with applicable bank standards, Banga made no mention of deep-sea mining.
Before taking over, Banga examined the World Bank’s total funding increases for the 2026 fiscal year, which concluded on June 30.
Among these gains was the mobilization of $112 billion in private capital, more than three times the 2022 fiscal year.
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He said this increased the group’s overall financing to $230 billion for fiscal 2026, in addition to loans from the World Bank’s own balance sheet.
