In a resource-scarce environment coupled with high and growing demand for aid, the multilateral development banks (MDBs) need to direct grants and concessional finance to the countries that need it the most. Nowhere is this principle more important than IDA, the largest global financing facility for low-income countries. Operationalizing this principle requires that the World Bank prioritize allocating grants and concessional loans to the poorest countries whose access to alternative funding sources is extremely limited. But trends have been moving in the opposite direction.  […]