World Bank Approves $30 Million to Gambia to Improve Debt, Others

The World Bank has announced on Thursday the approval of a $30 million development policy grant to support Gambia to improve debt and public investment management, financial viability and service delivery in the energy and telecom sectors, and enhance the transparency and governance framework of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

‘’This first in a series of two programmatic Development Policy Operations supports The Gambia’s efforts to undertake fundamental reforms to improve fiscal management for better public service delivery,” said Elene Imnadze, World Bank Resident Representative.

This Development Policy Operation will ensure public investment projects are appraised as per National Development Plan priorities and support the adoption of a new procurement bill to eliminate the use of single source procurement and tighten the emergency clause for its use.

The financing will also help enhance the financial and operational performance of the energy utility in order to provide cheaper, more reliable and cleaner energy. In addition, it will support the ring fencing of the telecom infrastructure and restructuring of the SOEs in that sector to strengthen the digital economy.

“This operation will support the government in strengthening fiscal transparency and reducing fiscal risks and promote a governance framework to ensure long-term sustainability of the SOE sector,” said Mehwish Ashraf, World Bank Country Economist and co-Task Team Leader.