The President of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, warned wealthy countries that it would be shortsighted to "ignore" Africa at a time when development budgets are being strained by wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
African leaders are urging $120bn aid to battle climate change and develop their countries, as the continent faces deadly floods and droughts, according to a Financial Times report on Wednesday.
World Bank data reported that one in three low-income countries eligible for its International Development Association, which offers grants and concessional loans, was worse off than it was on the eve of the pandemic four years ago, with most of those in Africa.
"Ignoring Africa is like ignoring the future of where the world's going," Banga told the Financial Times in Nairobi, where he attended a meeting of African heads of state to discuss an IDA replenishment.
Africa's population is set to nearly double to 2.5 billion by 2050 when one in four people in the world will be African.
Banga said Africa's youth was its most vital asset but was at risk of being neglected.
"The purpose is to cater to this 'demographic dividend'," added the former Mastercard executive.
The IDA offers grants and concessional loans to 75 low-income nations, more than half of them in Africa, to boost development and, increasingly, to combat the effects of climate change.
Since 1960, it has provided $533bn, becoming a key source of donor funds that helped improve the economies of countries such as China and India.
"Crises divert money from everywhere," Banga said of the competing demands for cash.
"The question really is: 'Can you make the case properly for why IDA for Africa is needed now?'" he quizzed.
Banga's warning that Africa risked being squeezed out of development funds was echoed by the IMF's Africa Director, Abebe Selassie, who said bilateral budget assistance from the EU, UK and other donors had been declining at an accelerating rate.
"In the past, there used to be quite a lot of budget support for a lot of the poorest countries in the region, but this has been on a trend of decline," Abebe said, adding that the World Bank and IMF needed to step in to fill the gap.
"The most depressing thing is that even humanitarian support has been declining."
African countries argue that high levels of debt and high borrowing costs leave them unable to cope with extreme weather events caused by global warming.
Last year, when President Bola Tinubu visited Paris, France, for a meeting, and warned that ignoring Nigeria, given her large and potent economy, would be a peril to the universe.
Tinubu had joined other world leaders on the consensus for redesigning the global financial architecture that would favour poverty reduction, debt restructuring or cancellation, and more consideration for vulnerable countries affected by climate change and COVID-19.
In January, Tinubu in Uganda asked for developed countries to urgently provide $1tn climate finance to fulfil their promise of $100bn to developing nations to upscale climate change adaptation.
The President was represented at the summit by the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, according to a statement by the Director of Information of the ministry, Folasade Boriowo.
Africa is also pushing for more concessional funding and pauses in repayment schedules when natural disasters strike.
Kenya's President, William Ruto, said his country and the wider East Africa region faced 'severe flooding that has devastated communities, destroyed infrastructure and disrupted our economies".
Floods last month killed more than 100 people and displaced in excess of 150,000 following years of droughts in northern Kenya and the Horn of Africa.
As floods hit Kenya and Tanzania, countries in Southern Africa, including Zambia and Zimbabwe, are battling droughts that are wrecking agricultural production.
Before Banga took over at the World Bank, the institution was criticised for not doing enough on climate change.
Ruto had called on wealthier nations "to meet us at this historic moment of solidarity" by increasing their IDA contribution from $93bn in 2021 to $120bn in 2024.
The G20 independent expert group has recommended tripling IDA's financing capacity to $279bn by the end of the decade.
