World Bank’s cumulative fiscal support to Ghana’s Covid-19 response reaches $435.8m
Fiscal support provided by the World Bank in Ghana’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has reached $435.8 million.
According to the World Bank’s Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Pierre Laporte, fiscal support to the country has been along five strategic pillars which are; (i) stop importation of COVID-19 cases; (ii) contain the spread of the virus; (iii) provide adequate care for the sick; (iv) limit the impact of the virus on social and economic life; and (v) inspire the expansion of our domestic capability and deepen our self-reliance.
Giving the opening remarks at the celebration of this year’s End Poverty Day in a webinar on the theme; “Toward a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery and preparing for future crises,” Mr Laporte noted the World Bank has allocated a significant portion of its financing commitment – around $150 million – to the acquisition of vaccines through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) to Ghana.
Speaking further during the webinar, Mr Laporte opined that the World Bank is focused on helping Ghana build a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery through integrating climate strategies into its activities and helping Ghana meet the principles/goals of the Paris commitments, stepping up efforts to strengthen resilience including building resilient infrastructure, disaster risk financing as well as providing emergency support through social protection projects to enhance safety nets for poor and vulnerable people, particularly those living in conflict and fragility situations.
Touching on energy, Mr Laporte noted the Bank is committed to helping Ghana transition to clean energy and deliver access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for the citizenry.
“Reliable energy is key to preventing and fighting COVID-19, and necessary for powering health care and critical communications, and boosting economic activity. Yet access is lacking in many countries. The World Bank Group is committed to closing this gap by helping countries transition to clean energy and deliver access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for all.
“We are advising countries on solutions that are economically viable, tailored to their needs, and informed by the latest policy, financial, and technological innovations. We helped Ghana to transition from liquid fuels to gas, considered a transition fuel option towards scaling up green energy,” stated Mr Laporte.
Adding that, the World Bank is committed to providing comprehensive debt solutions to help address Ghana’s debt vulnerabilities and that of other developing countries.
“The World Bank is committed to a comprehensive debt solution that can bring real benefits to people in poor countries, particularly countries with high debt vulnerabilities that do not have the financial resources to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Comprehensive debt solutions will involve at least four elements—debt suspension, debt reduction, debt resolution, and debt transparency,” he noted.
