The World Bank Group launches its first digital strategy

The World Bank Group launched its first digital strategy in Seoul on October 20, combining public- and private-sector capabilities around four priorities: expand connectivity, make devices and data affordable, strengthen digital services and skills, and build foundations for countries to benefit from AI. Over the next 10 to 15 years, about 1.2 billion young people will reach working age in developing economies while those economies are projected to create roughly 420 million jobs. The strategy puts digital capability into infrastructure and energy, agribusiness, health care, tourism and value-added manufacturing to help firms reach customers, raise productivity, access finance and lower public-service costs. Direction does not automatically create jobs; finance, network reliability, affordability, data governance, local skills, competition and whether small AI fits constrained settings determine results.