World Bank Procurement · Global Analysis · MDB Reform Platform
Follow the Money: $125 Billion of World Bank Contracts and Who Captured Them
The World Bank financed USD 125.3 billion in contracts across 280,959 awards over FY2020–FY2026 — spanning all eight operational regions. Of every dollar, 44 cents was won by a supplier based outside the borrowing country. The single largest foreign beneficiary is Chinese state construction, the top supplier in seven of eight regions. The United States, the Bank’s largest shareholder, supplied 1.3 percent.
The World Bank recorded USD 125.3 billion of contract awards across all eight regions between FY2020 and FY2026. Firms based in the borrowing country won 56 percent; the remaining 44 percent went to foreign suppliers. The split varies sharply by region — from 77 percent domestic in South Asia to 38 percent in Eastern and Southern Africa, the only regions where local firms win less than half of the value their own borrowing finances.
China is the largest single foreign beneficiary, winning USD 18.6 billion outside its own borders — 15 percent of global contract value and the top foreign supplier in seven of eight regions. The Group of Seven economies, which hold the largest blocs of World Bank voting power, together supplied 5.2 percent — less than a third of China’s share. The analysis does not argue that foreign capture is wrong; it documents a distributional structure that is rarely seen in full.
Eight-region analysis with Africa vs global comparison, six-year trends, shareholding paradox, sector breakdown and the twenty largest contracts globally.
Finding 1: The Regional Spread
Domestic capture is the majority position globally, but the range is wide. Asian and European regions retain most contract value onshore — South Asia and East Asia above three-quarters, reflecting deep domestic contracting markets in India, China, Indonesia and Türkiye. The two Sub-Saharan Africa regions sit at the opposite end: the only regions in the world where domestic firms win less than half of the value financed by their own governments’ borrowing.
| Region | Value | Domestic | China (foreign) | Top foreign supplier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern & Southern Africa | $30.1bn | 38% | 28% | China |
| Western & Central Africa | $24.5bn | 44% | 17% | China |
| Europe & Central Asia | $18.5bn | 67% | 6% | China |
| South Asia | $15.9bn | 77% | 9% | China |
| East Asia & Pacific | $14.0bn | 76% | 7% | China |
| MENA, Afghanistan & Pakistan | $12.1bn | 52% | 17% | China |
| Latin America & Caribbean | $10.1bn | 61% | 3% | United States |
“China (foreign)” excludes contracts where China is itself the borrower. Latin America is the only region where the United States is the top foreign supplier.
Finding 2: Africa vs the World
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 44 percent of all World Bank contract value — the largest regional share — yet shows the weakest domestic capture and the highest Chinese penetration of any region. The contrast on every metric is stark.
| Metric | Global | Sub-Saharan Africa |
|---|---|---|
| Total value | $125.3bn | $54.6bn |
| Domestic capture | 56% | 41% |
| Foreign capture | 44% | 59% |
| China (foreign share) | 15% | 23% |
| UN intermediaries | 7% | 10% |
| Works domestic capture | 61% | 38% |
| China works share | 26% | 39% |
| Avg Chinese contract | $11.6M | $14.7M |
| Avg all-other contract | $0.57M | $0.35M |
Finding 3: The Shareholder Paradox
Who governs the World Bank and who is paid to build its projects are, with one exception, different countries. The United States holds 16 percent of IBRD voting power; its firms win 1.3 percent of contract value. Japan holds 6.9 percent; its firms win 0.2 percent. China holds 5.8 percent — and wins 17 percent, three times its voting weight. The G7 combined hold the largest bloc of governance power and together supply 5.2 percent of contract value; China alone supplies 17.4 percent.
| Economy | IBRD voting power | Share of global contracts | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 16.0% | 1.3% | 0.1× |
| Japan | 6.9% | 0.2% | 0.0× |
| China | 5.8% | 17.4% | 3.0× |
| Germany | 4.1% | 1.2% | 0.3× |
| France | 3.8% | 1.3% | 0.3× |
| G7 combined | ~37% | 5.2% | 0.1× |
Finding 4: Six-Year Trends
The trend data reveal a structural divergence between Africa and the rest of the portfolio. In Sub-Saharan Africa, domestic capture has fluctuated around 40–45 percent throughout, with no secular improvement — dipping to 33 percent in FY2022 and peaking at 45 percent in FY2025. China’s African share peaked at 30 percent in FY2024 before retreating.
Outside Africa, the picture is the opposite. A pandemic-era dip to 58 percent domestic in FY2021 — when large vaccine purchases inflated foreign capture — recovered firmly to above 73 percent by FY2024–26. China’s share outside Africa fell as pharmaceutical goods dominated the denominator in those years. Africa’s divergence from the rest of the portfolio has therefore widened over the period.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Domestic capture: 42% (FY2020) → 33% (FY2022) → 45% (FY2025) → 40% (FY2026). No upward trend. China peaked at 30% in FY2024.
Rest of portfolio
Domestic capture: 73% (FY2020) → 58% (FY2021, vaccines) → 74% (FY2024) → 73% (FY2026). Structurally strong.
What This Means
None of this establishes that foreign capture is a failure. The Bank’s procurement rules are open and nationality-blind by design; large civil works frequently exceed domestic contracting capacity; and a firm that wins a competitive international tender has earned the work. A high foreign-capture rate may reflect a thin domestic sector as much as anything about the procurement itself.
What the data establish is a distributional fact that varies in a telling way. In most regions, the majority of contract value stays onshore. In Sub-Saharan Africa — the Bank’s largest regional portfolio — it does not, and the external value is dominated by the state enterprises of a single country that holds a fraction of the voting power of the economies whose firms win almost nothing. Sovereign borrowers everywhere carry the debt and the guarantee; where the resulting contract value is realised differs from one region to the next in ways the procurement record documents but cannot, on its own, explain.
Includes Annex A (eight regions in full), Annex B (top supplier economies and companies), Annex C (sectors), Annex D (shareholding table), and Annex E (the twenty largest contracts globally).