QUALITY ASSURANCE GROUP FINDINGS

Quality Assurance Group Findings

In its annual review of the Bank’s active lending portfolio, the Quality Assurance Group estimated that the share of well-performing Bank projects at completion reached 81 percent in fiscal 2006, a level unmatched in the past 25 years. From fiscal 2003 through fiscal 2006, Transportation was the top performer among sectors, with more than 90 percent of outcomes rated as satisfactory. East Asia and Pacific was the top-performing region, with 83 percent of projects rated as satisfactory. And whereas IDA’s share of World Bank commitments in 2001 was about one-third of the total, today it makes up 42 percent of the portfolio.

The report cautioned that underreporting of portfolio risks remained a serious concern: while Bank staff report problems in 11 percent of projects in the active portfolio, the actual share may be closer to 25 percent. Fragile states continue to represent critical challenges for the Bank, with a low satisfactory outcome rating of 56 percent during the four-year period from fiscal 2003 through fiscal 2006. Bank performance in terms of quality at entry and of quality of supervision in these countries, which are fully within the Bank’s control, remain areas of concern. Bank management is taking a number of actions to enhance the Bank’s organizational response to fragile states.