Difference between the World Bank and a Commercial Bank?

While it lends and even manages funds much like a regular bank, the World Bank is different in many important ways. It is owned by 184 countries. The financial support and advice the World Bank provides its member countries is designed to help them fight poverty. And unlike commercial banks, the World Bank often lends at little or no interest to countries that are unable to raise money for development anywhere else.

Countries that borrow from the World Bank also have a much longer period to repay their loans than commercial banks allow.  In some cases, they don’t have to start repaying for ten years.

Basically, the World Bank borrows the money it lends.  It has good credit because if has large, well-manages financial reserves.  This means it can borrow money at low interest rates from capital markets all over the world and channel it to developing countries, often at much lower rates of interest than what markets would charge these countries.