Open for Business: Supporting Ukraine’s Small Businesses In Wartime

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted operations for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses across the country, as employees fled, facilities were destroyed, and access to finance was constrained.
  • Financed with World Bank Group support, the government’s 5-7-9 loan program has helped subsidize borrowing costs for over 20,000 firms across the country.
  • To date, businesses kept afloat through this program have created over 50,000 new jobs and generated over $318 million of export volumes.
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655 Million People Still Without Electricity Underscore Urgent Need to Deliver Universal Energy Access

Latest data show uneven progress, highlighting the critical need to focus on affordability and vulnerable communities 

Washington, New York, Paris, Geneva, Abu Dhabi, 24 June 2026 – At a time when energy security and affordability have risen to the top of the development agenda, 655 million people globally still lack access to electricity, and two billion use polluting fuels and technologies for cooking putting their health and well-being at risk. Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate share of these gaps, with over 560 million living without electricity and 970 million lacking access to clean cooking.  

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West Africa’s rice imperative: why investing in the value chain is the most important bet we can make


Every year, West Africa sends more than $3.5 billion abroad to buy rice — a staple food that millions of people across the region consume every day. Yet, this is a crop that grows and thrives in the region.

Expanding domestic production is a major opportunity to strengthen food security, create jobs, boost rural incomes, and mitigate exposure to volatile global commodity markets.

Woman walking through rice fields in the province of Bubanza, Burundi. Photo: Sarah Farhat/World Bank
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2026 Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report

Overview

The latest Global Gas Flaring Tracker, an independent report of gas flaring worldwide, reveals that global gas flaring rose for the third consecutive year in 2025, reaching 167 billion cubic meters (bcm), the highest recorded level since 2019. The gas wastefully burned could have powered homes and industries, created jobs, reduced import bills, and extended electricity access and clean cooking fuels for communities that still lack it.

Published annually by the World Bank’s Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GFMR) Partnership, in collaboration with the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, the report provides a comprehensive independent assessment of global gas flaring volumes, intensity, and trends.

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AI Could Boost Poland’s Economy by Up to 12% by 2035, New World Bank Group Report Finds

WARSAW, June 22, 2026—Artificial intelligence could increase Poland’s real GDP by between 1.3% and 12.1% by 2035, according to a new World Bank Group report. The scale of the gains will depend on how quickly firms invest, how rapidly workers adapt, and whether policies enable the transition.

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World Bank Group Provides New Financing in Support of India’s Reform Program to Boost Growth and Jobs

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2026—The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved $1.5 billion in financing to support India’s structural reforms to boost private sector-led job creation and economic growth under the Boosting Job Creation in the Private Sector Development Policy Financing (DPF) Operation.

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Second Emerging Markets CLO Advances World Bank Group Push to Mobilize Private Capital for Jobs

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 15, 2026—The World Bank Group, through the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has closed its second securitization transaction under the Emerging Markets Securitization Program (EMSP), marking continued progress in mobilizing private capital to support private sector growth and build a scalable market for institutional investment in emerging markets.

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From Degraded Hillsides to Productive Land: Ethiopia’s Landscape Management Program

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Ethiopia’s CALM Program has brought over 2.56 million hectares under sustainable landscape management across 700 woredas, one of the largest landscape restoration efforts on the continent.
  • More than 8.8 million Second Level Landholding Certificates have been issued to 3.9 million households, securing rights to over 16 million hectares of land and demonstrating that farmers who hold formal rights to their land invest more in its long-term restoration.
  • The program has generated over 1.1 million jobs, enabled access to $65 million in loans for certified landholders, and reached over 11.5 million beneficiaries, of whom 50% percent are women.
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