“A 4 degree warmer world can, and must be, avoided – we need to hold warming below 2 degrees ... Lack of action on climate change threatens to make the world our children inherit a completely different world than we are living in today. Climate change is one of the single biggest challenges facing development, and we need to assume the moral responsibility to take action on behalf of future generations, especially the poorest."
– Jim Yong Kim, 2012
The idea of World Bank was conceived by John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White and was formally inaugurated at the 1944 Breton Woods Conference. International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created along with it and both work closely, located in the US. The loans provided by the bank have facilitated many economies around the world in improving their gross domestic product. France was the first recipient of the loan which was estimated to be $250 million. However, it was not obtained without conditions, which is why countries often face difficulty in borrowing further money due to unresolved issues. France was asked by the US to remove its communist members from the government as a prerequisite to obtaining loan. World Bank also kept an eye on how the funds were being utilized. Until 1968; the loans were primarily to be used for the construction of infrastructure works, such as seaports, highway systems, and power plants, which would produce enough income to assist a borrower country in repaying its loan. Later, soft loans with fewer conditions were made available to the developing nations. The official agenda of the bank is the reduction of poverty through the promotion of foreign investment, international trade and capital investment. Till 2016, World Bank had lent $5.6 billion to Pakistan with $1.2 billion in the 2015 fiscal year. The Pakistan portfolio also had 26 investment lending projects under implementation by the World Bank, as of February, 2016.