The World Bank Group's Response to the Global Economic Crisis

Management Response
Introduction
Management welcomes the opportunity to comment on IEG's initial evaluation of the response of the World Bank Group to the economic crisis. As IEG notes, it is too early to evaluate the outcomes of Bank Group support during the crisis, but management finds the Phase I evaluation useful in raising issues for attention. Management appreciates the evaluation's finding that the Bank Group's response was quick, relevant, innovative, and effective across a range of aspects that could be observed within the short period of time since the onset of the crisis and the Bank Group response. We also appreciate that the evaluation found the Bank responsive not only in scaling up countercyclical financing, but also in providing timely knowledge services through analytical support, particularly at the country level.
Evaluation Findings
Management concurs broadly with the findings of the evaluation and issues for continuing attention. We also note that this early phase of the evaluation will be further strengthened and refined with more evidence collected through completion reviews of Bank Group support instruments and country data as it becomes available. The comments below are meant to point to areas and themes on which the second phase may focus. In addition to these comments, management stands ready to provide IEG with more country- and operation-specific background and detailed actual information, which would further strengthen the final evaluation.
Organization of the Comments
Given the organization of the IEG evaluation, managementcomments cover the World Bank response, the IFC response, and the MIGA response in that order. The last section of management's comments cover particular country issues.download