World Bank announces US$57 bln in financing for Africa

WASHINGTON: The World Bank announced US$ 57 billion in financing for subSaharan Africa over the next three fiscal years.

Of that total, US$ 45 billion will come from the International Development Association, the World Bank fund that provides grants and interest- free loans for the world’s poorest countries.

The package will also feature an estimated US$ 8 billion in private sector investments f rom the Internat ional Finance Corporat ion, a private-sector branch of World Bank, and US$ 4 billion will come from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the bank’s unit for middle- income nations, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said in a statement.

Germany, which hosted a meeting of the G20 countries Friday and Saturday, said that a partnership called ‘Compact with Africa’ would be a priority of its presidency this year of that club of powerful nat ions. Of al l the countries in Africa, only South Africa is a G20 member.

“This represent s an unprecedented opportunity to change the development trajectory of the countries in the region,” Kim said. — AFP