The world must create jobs for 1.2 billion young people expected to enter the labour market over the next 10 to 15 years, but faces a projected shortfall of around 800 million jobs, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga has warned, calling for a major expansion of private investment, infrastructure and business opportunities.
Addressing the 2026 Annual Meetings plenary in Bangkok on Saturday, Banga said governments and development partners must combine public finance, private capital, philanthropy and technology to generate employment on the scale required by developing economies.
“The jobs gap is a projection. It does not have to be our future,” he said, warning that rising debt burdens, limited fiscal space, persistent conflicts and high costs of essential commodities, including energy and fertiliser, were making development increasingly difficult.
“A job is not a statistic. A job is dignity,” he said, stressing that employment was essential to helping young people build secure futures and promoting economic stability.
Private capital mobilisation triples
The World Bank Group mobilised $112 billion in private capital in fiscal 2026, more than three times the roughly $35 billion recorded in fiscal 2022. Combined with its own financing, total financing exceeded $230 billion, Banga said.
Private capital mobilisation nearly tripled in lower-middle-income countries and quadrupled in upper-middle-income countries, while more than doubling across Africa. However, mobilisation remained flat in low-income countries, where commercial investment is hardest to attract.
The group is addressing investment barriers, including currency risks and limited access to finance, through guarantees, equity investments and local-currency financing.
Its new strategy for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) aims to improve access to finance and larger markets while simplifying regulations that constrain business growth.
Nearly 55 per cent of the group’s financing and the private capital it mobilised last year went to infrastructure and energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism and value-added manufacturing — sectors with significant job-creation potential.
Climate-related development financing benefits reached $96 billion, including $48 billion from private capital.
Reliable energy crucial for growth
Banga identified reliable and affordable energy as a foundation for industrial expansion and employment, stressing that businesses need dependable electricity, water, transport and digital connectivity to grow.
“Homes, mines, factories, farms, and growing cities need reliable, affordable baseload power,” he said.
The World Bank Group supports a balanced energy mix, including renewables, hydropower, natural gas where appropriate, nuclear power where viable, transmission networks and storage.
Through Mission 300, a joint initiative with the African Development Bank, the group aims to provide electricity to 300 million people in Africa by 2030. So far, 59 million people have gained access, including 29 million in the latest fiscal year.
Faster financing, stronger institutions
Banga said reforms had reduced project preparation time from 19 months to nine months. Changes to the group’s balance sheet have also created more than $100 billion in additional lending capacity for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development over a decade.
The group’s digital co-financing platform now hosts around 250 projects seeking $138 billion, three times the number recorded two years earlier, as multilateral development banks expand cooperation to accelerate investment.
He said public and concessional finance would remain essential in countries facing the greatest risks, while private investment should play a larger role as economies strengthen.
Six multilateral development banks are also developing common mechanisms to transfer investments to other investors, potentially freeing up development finance for new projects.
AI and essential services
Artificial intelligence could help farmers increase yields, teachers personalise instruction and entrepreneurs reach new customers, Banga said. However, advanced AI systems remain costly for many developing countries because of their requirements for computing power, energy, skills and capital.
The World Bank Group aims to improve water security for up to one billion people by 2030, support 200 million smallholder farmers in moving beyond subsistence agriculture, and expand access to quality, affordable healthcare to 1.5 billion people through its HealthWorks initiative. Around 600 million people have already been reached through the health programme.
The group also plans to expand its critical minerals business fivefold over five years, helping countries develop local industries and retain more jobs and economic value.
Banga called for a development model that combines public funding where markets cannot reach, private capital to expand businesses and employment, philanthropy to support early-stage risks, and technology to make resources go further.
With 1.2 billion young people expected to enter the labour market over the next 10 to 15 years, he said, creating jobs at scale would be critical to securing a more prosperous future.