The number of people living in extreme poverty was estimated to have dipped below one billion for the first time since the World Bank began measuring poverty in 1990.

World Bank commitments totaled $24.7 billion in fiscal 2007. This amount included loans, credits, guarantees, and grants, and was 4 percent higher than total lending in fiscal 2006.

The Bank delivered 531 economic and sector work and 430 technical assistance (nonlending) products in fiscal 2007.

In its “Annual Report on Portfolio Performance,” the Quality Assurance Group found that the share of well-performing Bank projects at completion reached 81 percent in fiscal 2006, a level unmatched in the past 25 years.

The Independent Evaluation Group produced 13 major evaluations reviewing the Bank’s performance on a range of activities, including transport, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, the Annual Review of Development Effectiveness, and reviews of country assistance programs in Mali and Ukraine. For details, see www.worldbank.org/ieg.

Representatives of donor countries, borrower countries, and observers from other multilateral banks met to discuss the fifteenth replenishment of IDA in Paris in March 2007, and again in Maputo in June 2007.

The Executive Directors approved new strategies for financial and private sector development; health, nutrition, and population; and governance and anticorruption.

A leadership crisis led to the resignation of the World Bank’s President, Paul D. Wolfowitz, effective June 30, 2007.

On June 25, 2007, the Board of Executive Directors unanimously selected Robert B. Zoellick as President to take effect as of July 1, 2007.

Letter Of Transmittal

This Annual Report, which covers the period from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, has been prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)—collectively known as the World Bank—in accordance with the respective bylaws of the two institutions. Robert B. Zoellick, President of IBRD and IDA, and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, has submitted this report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.

Annual reports for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) are published separately.