Education Lending in FY 2006

Education Lending Trends

The World Bank is one of the world's largest providers of external funding for education. It began supporting education in developing countries in 1963 and to this date has transferred more than $US 39 billion in loans and credits for education.  World Bank education lending has been averaging about $2 billion annually for the last five years, a level that is almost double that of the previous five years (lending to Education FY 00 toted $728 million). This trend was maintained in FY 06, with total education lending amounting to $1.99 billion.  Such lending is transferred by the World Bank to developing countries to support the development of policies and strategies, strengthen institutions and service delivery and help countries expand the qualitative and quantitative capacity of their education systems.

Aggregate data on World Bank lending trends in the education sector can be accessed through the Education Historical Lending Figures. Also, the World Bank’s Project Databaseprovides access to detailed information on World Bank operations.

Below is a breakdown of World Bank Education lending trends between FY2000 and FY2006. 

How much does the World Bank lend to education?

Fiscal Year Education New Commitments FY 00 728   FY 01 1,095   FY 02 1,385   FY 03 2,349   FY 04 1,685   FY 05 1,951   FY 06 1,991

What region constituted the largest amount of lending in the education sector for FY 06?

Regional Education Lending Breakdown
Education lending varied widely among regions in FY 06 with the largest amount of education lending occurring in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region (LAC) totaling $723 million in new education lending in FY 06 and constituting 37% of total Education Lending.

Simultaneously, lending for the Africa (AFR) region totaled $339 million constituting the third largest region in terms of total amount of education lending in FY 06 while the South Asia Region (SAR) constituted the second largest amount of regional lending for the sector at $377 million.

In terms of number of operations, although LAC had the largest amount of lending,  the SAR region had the largest number of projects in Education in FY 06 accounting for 23 % of operations managed by the Education Sector Board.   

What education sub-sector receives the most lending? 

The World Bank continues to support Basic Education through various activities and lending. As in past years, primary education represented the largest percentage of World Bank education lending, constituting 28% of total education lending in FY 06.  Note that the General Education sub-sector is a project categorization used when a project supports more than five sectors or when no sub-sector is appropriate for coding. Much of the lending attributed to General Education is considered part of Basic Education lending.  In FY 06, it is estimated that slightly under 40% of Education Lending went towards Basic Education.  

Below is an overview of past education lending trends by education sub-sector.  Also, a breakdown of FY 06 education sub-sector lending by region has been provided below.

 Overview of FY 2008 Education Lending

 Overview of FY 2007 Education Lending 

 Overview of FY 2005 Education Lending

 Overview of FY 2004 Education Lending

 Overview of FY 2003 Education Lending