A surge in demand by ailing commodity exporters in the developing world has pushed up lending from the World Bank this year to its highest levels since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Finance ministers and central bankers from around the world are due to gather in Washington this week for the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The latter is widely expected on Tuesday to downgrade its 3.4 per cent global growth forecast for this year.

But alongside scheduled discussions on everything from slowing emerging economies to tax havens, officials at the World Bank will be dealing with an increase in requests for loans from commodity exporters such as Indonesia, Nigeria and Peru as they struggle to cope with the effects of the collapse in global commodity prices.