World Bank Group

10/12/2026

Annual Meetings 🌐 Policymakers, regulators, and financial experts will discuss how digital and data-based solutions are potential gamechangers for Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) to become more visible, connected, enabled, and funded at scale. Join us LIVE!

See how digital tools and data can help small businesses access finance, grow, and create more jobs in developing economies.

10/12/2026

This week, we're taking you to Bangkok for the 2026 IMF–World Bank Group Annual Meetings from October 12–18. Whether you're on the ground in Thailand or following from home, every public event will stream live on World Bank Live — no registration required. We'll be on social media throughout the week with daily updates and behind-the-scenes coverage. Browse the events below, add them to your calendar, and join the conversation.

➤ How Small AI Creates Jobs Where It Matters Most.

Artificial intelligence is already changing how farmers grow food, businesses operate, and governments deliver services — and for developing countries, the biggest opportunities may not come from frontier models. World Bank Group President Ajay Banga joins leaders and innovators to explore how practical, affordable AI can move from promising pilots to widespread impact. SIGN UP: https://bit.ly/3Ttltq3

➤ The Floor Is Yours: Civil Society Meets World Bank Leadership

For his fourth time, Ajay Banga opens the floor to civil society — sharing updates on recent developments at the institution and taking questions from the room and online audience alike. Joined by the Managing Directors, this town hall is a rare opportunity for direct, unfiltered dialogue with the people shaping the global development agenda. SIGN UP: https://bit.ly/4ygS5Sf

➤ Invisible No More: How Data Can Get Small Businesses Funded

Small and medium businesses make up 9 in 10 businesses in developing economies — yet they remain chronically underfinanced. With 1.2 billion people set to enter the workforce over the next decade, that has to change. Join policymakers and financial experts to explore how data can help small businesses get the funding they need. SIGN UP: https://bit.ly/4hN7mDY

➤ Making Emerging Markets Investable

What will it take to bring more private capital to emerging markets? Investors, regulators, insurers, and development finance leaders come together to examine how capital markets, local currency financing, guarantees, and policy reforms can reduce risk and create new investment opportunities — and what that means for businesses, growth, and jobs. SIGN UP: https://bit.ly/4y8cpVx

➤ The Main Stage: Annual Meetings Plenary

The centerpiece of the 2026 Annual Meetings. Ajay Banga and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva join Annual Meetings Chairman Carlos Carvallo Spalding, President of the Central Bank of Paraguay, for the plenary session in Bangkok. SIGN UP: https://bit.ly/4yaGW56

10/11/2026

Annual Meetings 🌐 Hear from the World Bank Group President and the International Monetary Fund Managing Director on the priorities shaping global development. Join us LIVE!

Annual Meetings Chairman Carlos Carvallo Spalding joins Ajay Banga and Kristalina Georgieva for the October 16 plenary in Bangkok.

10/11/2026

The are coming to Bangkok🇹🇭, bringing together government officials, the private sector, youth leaders, development experts, and others to find solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges. ⁠
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👉🏽 JOIN US October 12–18 for this edition's public sessions. We will be broadcasting LIVE! https://bit.ly/4yQgiQ3

➤ Mobilizing Private Capital: Explore how public and private partners can unlock more investment for jobs, infrastructure, and sustainable growth.

➤ AI and Development: Learn how countries can use artificial intelligence to expand opportunity while managing risks and building capacity.

➤ Civil Society Town Hall: Join World Bank Group President Ajay Banga for a conversation with civil society leaders on development priorities, including questions from participants in the room and online.

➤ IMF–World Bank Group Leadership Perspectives: Hear from the World Bank Group President and the IMF Managing Director on the priorities shaping global development.
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10/10/2026

🌐 The 2026 World Bank Group Annual Meetings will bring together leaders from government, business, civil society, and international organizations to discuss the global economy and practical solutions to development challenges. ⁠
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☑️ From Bangkok, we will broadcast and stream a series of public events live, making these conversations accessible to audiences around the world, with no registration required. Public events will be streamed in English, with interpretation available in French, Arabic, Spanish, and Thai for selected sessions.
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OCTOBER 12–18, 2026

➤ Small AI: More and Better Jobs⁠. Learn how countries can use artificial intelligence to expand opportunity while managing risks and building capacity. https://bit.ly/470elEC

➤ Civil Society Townhall. Join a conversation with civil society leaders on development priorities, including questions from participants in the room and online. https://bit.ly/4hofcoD

➤ MSME Finance: Leveraging Data for Jobs. Find out how digital and data-based solutions are potential gamechangers for MSMEs to become more visible, connected, enabled, and funded at scale. https://bit.ly/4rLurvp

➤ Unlocking Investment Opportunities in Emerging Markets to Create Jobs⁠. Explore how public and private partners can unlock more investment for jobs, infrastructure, and sustainable growth.⁠ https://bit.ly/3U2uJ4v

➤ Annual Meetings Plenary⁠. Hear from the World Bank Group President and the IMF Managing Director on the priorities shaping global development.⁠ https://bit.ly/4xWVXYa

10/10/2026

🌏 Parliamentarians from around the world visited Thailand to learn about the country’s development journey and exchange ideas on creating jobs, strengthening resilience, and promoting sustainable growth ahead of the 2026 IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings. Read this article.

For a delegation of parliamentarians from Europe and Asia visiting Thailand ahead of the 2026 World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings, Mit Pracha offered something equally important: perspective.

10/09/2026

Three years ago, the World Bank Group launched its reform agenda with a clear ambition: to become a faster, simpler, more effective, and impactful institution — one better equipped to meet the scale and urgency of today’s development challenges.

That agenda is now delivering results: ✔$123.5 billion in client financing, ✔ $112 billion in private capital mobilization, ✔ Faster project approvals, ✔ AI-integrated client solutions, ✔ New strategic priorities.

Download our ANNUAL REPORT and learn how these results are creating jobs and growing economies around the world.

Download our Annual Report and learn how these results are creating jobs and growing economies around the world.

10/09/2026

From working across countries, cultures and teams to seeing firsthand the energy and collaboration that goes into an event of this scale, the World Bank Group Annual Meetings are about much more than what happens on stage. Now, as Bangkok🇹🇭prepares to host the 2026 , Angkanee is looking forward to welcoming colleagues and partners and sharing what makes her home city so dynamic.

👉 Hear from Angkanee Luangpenthong, Program Assistant at the World Bank Group Thailand Office, and follow the ! We will be broadcasting live from Bangkok: https://bit.ly/4yQgiQ3
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10/09/2026

More than 824 million people, about one in ten worldwide, were living in extreme poverty in 2024. The World Bank updated these global and regional poverty estimates in September 2026, on the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP). The release provides estimates through 2024 and nowcasts for 2025 and 2026. Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than $3.00 per person per day in 2021 purchasing power parity terms.

Global extreme poverty is projected to decline marginally from 10.1 percent in 2024 to 9.8 percent in 2026. The 2024 estimate is for the latest year with sufficient data coverage. The 2025 and 2026 nowcasts are based on national accounts projections from the June 2026 Global Economic Prospects, the latest currently available.

Survey coverage is sufficient across all regions in 2022–2024. Coverage was insufficient in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2021. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the addition of Uganda’s 2024 survey data brings 2024 population coverage above the required threshold.

Progress on extreme poverty remains sharply uneven: rates are below 5 percent in all regions except the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Extreme poverty is rising in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan region, and remains high in Sub-Saharan Africa. Both regions remain far from eradicating extreme poverty.

Compared with the March 2026 PIP vintage, the global poverty rate has been revised downward by 0.3 percentage points (22.5 million people), from about 10.4 percent (846.8 million people) to 10.1 percent (824.3 million).

Revisions to global and regional poverty estimates are driven by three main factors: new household survey data; improvements or revisions to country-year estimates; and updates to auxiliary data, including national accounts, population projections, and consumer price indices.

The observed minor downward revision stems primarily from the decrease in the extreme poverty rate in South Asia, after the inclusion of the latest survey, which replaces the previously used extrapolation.

LEARN MORE: https://bit.ly/4yefJzu

10/08/2026

🌐🇹🇭 NEXT WEEK: Join us for the World Bank Group Annual Meetings. We will be broadcasting LIVE from Bangkok!