Trump's budget includes $3.2 billion for World Bank's fund for poorest countries

FILE PHOTO: Vehicles pass in front of the World Bank building, which houses the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, in Washington, D.C. on May 20, 2022. Picture taken with a long exposure. Picture taken May 20, 2022. REUTERS/Raphael Satter/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump on Friday asked Congress to approve $3.2 billion in contributions to the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA), which provides low- or zero-interest loans to the world's poorest countries.

International finance experts hailed the sum, to be paid over three years, as a welcome surprise, given recent worries that Trump could skip making any contribution to IDA.