World Bank gives Africa $11.5b financial support in 2010
The World Bank has committed a total of $11.5 billion to Africa in the fiscal year 2010. That is from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010
In a press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com the Bretton Woods Institution said the Bank committed the funds to help the continent recover rapidly from the financial crisis that hit the world in 2008.
The Bank, according to the release, supported 113 projects, with $4.3 billion in commitments from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and $7.2 billion in commitments from the International Development Association (IDA).
The World Bank Group said it committed more than $72 billion assistance for developing countries in fiscal year 2010 as the world faces a fragile and uneven recovery.
In fiscal year 2010, the Bank Group supported an estimated 875 projects to promote economic growth, overcome poverty, and promote private enterprise, with record commitments in education, health, nutrition, population, and infrastructure providing much-needed investments in crisis-hit economies, it said.
The Bank indicated that this assistance was provided in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to help countries and private businesses contending with significantly diminished private capital flows in the wake of the global downturn.
According to the Bank, private flows are forecast to recover only modestly from $454 billion in 2009 to $771 billion by 2012, still far below the $1.2 trillion in 2007. Overall, the financing gap of developing countries is projected to be $210 billion in 2010, declining to $180 billion in 2011 down from an estimated $352 billion in 2009.
Commitments from the World Bank Group to sub-Saharan African countries, which the Bank considers its top priority, rose to $13.85 billion in fiscal year 2010, up 28 percent from $9.9 billion in fiscal year 2009. This included $7.2 billion from the IDA, or 49 percent of total IDA commitments; $4.3 billion from the IBRD; a record $2 billion from the International Finance Corporation (IFC); and $345 million in Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) guarantees for projects in the region.
IBRD and IDA disbursements in sub-Saharan African countries stood at $6 billion in fiscal year 2010.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi