GLOBAL – The World Bank Group has revealed that it will be deploying up to US$160 billion in financial support over 15 months to help more than 100 countries cushion their economies from the adverse effects of COVID19.
“As developing countries face an unprecedented health, social and economic crisis, we have been working intensely on fast, broad actions to limit the harm and help countries prepare for recovery so they can rebuild better and stronger than before,” said World Bank Group President David Malpass.
The US$160 Billion also includes $50 billion of new IDA resources through grants and highly concessional loans.
A statement from the World Bank said that the money will be used to help target countries strengthen their pandemic response, protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery.
“We are supporting public health interventions, working to ensure the flow of critical supplies and equipment, and helping the private sector continue to operate and sustain jobs,” the World Bank statement read.
World Bank Group further noted that the support given so far rapidly helped countries fight the pandemic by focusing on four priorities.
The priorities include; saving lives threatened by the pandemic; protecting the poor and vulnerable; securing the foundations of the economy to shorten the time to recovery; and strengthening policies and institutions for resilience based on transparent and sustainable debt and investments.
The World Bank revealed that in order to support these emergency programs, it has as significantly scaled up, reaching $74 billion in commitments.
The Bank noted that it’s financing, deployed together with technical and policy advice and analytical support, is helping countries address health and economic impacts of the pandemic.
The financing is also maintaining countries’ private sector, aiding nations with food insecurity due to locust swarms in Africa and the Middle East, and combating widening inequality, among other key priorities.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Group’s private sector arm, committed and mobilized a total of US$22 billion in long-term finance – an almost 15 percent year-on-year increase – including $11.1 billion invested on its own account.
In addition, short-term financing commitments, including trade finance, totaled US$6.5 billion, a 12 percent increase as compared with FY19.
The World Bank Group noted that it will continue to focus on providing support to countries to address the health and economic impacts of the pandemic, while maintaining a line of sight on their long-term development vision.
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