World Bank boosts Middle East presence with new office in Saudi Arabia

The World Bank has opened a new office in Saudi Arabia, boosting its presence in the region as it aims to strengthen global co-operation from a city it says has become a “global convener” of knowledge development.

The office, located in the capital Riyadh, will serve as a primary hub for its Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan jurisdiction, the Washington-based lender said on Monday.

The Riyadh hub will be co-located with the World Bank Group’s Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regional office.

The jurisdiction's regional vice president and regional practice directors have relocated to Riyadh, bringing the World Bank's leadership closer to country teams and “marking a new chapter in the World Bank’s operational footprint”, it said.

The opening on Tuesday also coincides with Saudi Arabia's 95th national day, as well as the 50th year of technical co-operation between the kingdom and the World Bank.

Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's largest economy, and its capital are “not only a gateway to the region’s transformation, but also a powerful platform for global knowledge exchange and policy innovation”, Ousmane Dione, the World Bank's vice president for Mena, Afghanistan and Pakistan, said.

For the Mena, Afghanistan and Pakistan region, the World Bank has a mission to “eliminate poverty and promote shared prosperity through strengthening human capital, supporting jobs and economic transformation, advancing gender equity, addressing fragility, and enabling green growth”, according to its website.

In August, the lender approved a $650 million disaster management loan for Turkey, a key step to help the country revive its economy.

In June, it extended about $400 million to help with the reconstruction of the battered electricity grid in Syria and the emergency repair of vital infrastructure in Lebanon.

The Riyadh office also comes after the World Bank and Saudi Arabia launched a global knowledge hub in the capital to spearhead regional and global knowledge exchange, joint research and capacity-building initiatives aimed at advancing global development impact.

Earlier this year, the World Bank estimated that the Mena economy grew 1.9 per cent and forecasts a 2.6 per cent expansion in 2025.

It said that governments and businesses can play “complementary roles” in developing a more dynamic private sector, with the country leaderships potentially boosting the performance of companies by “promoting competition in markets, improving the business environment, and investing in data collection and access”.