The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved an additional credit of $130 million dollars from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Project.

The additional financing in the health sector will support the Government of Ghana to scale up its efforts to mitigate the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic and to safely reopen its economy.

According to Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, this additional funding is timely and critical to save lives and build resilient systems by further increasing capacity of surveillance, diagnosis, treatment with increased availability of intensive care unit beds and adopt new COVID-19 medications.

With Ghana’s COVID-19 cases hitting 1,139 in recent days from 400 some three weeks ago, the World Bank believes the project will strengthen the Government of Ghana’s efforts to prevent and contain the virus and to safely revive socio-economic activities in the country.

The new credit facility should also help prepare for future COVID-19 vaccine deployment in Ghana and expand communications and awareness campaigns nationwide to reduce risks of infection and to increase understanding of the COVID-19 vaccines.

In total, the World Bank Group is making available up to $160 billion over a 15-month period ending June 2021 to help more than 100 countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery.

This includes $50 billion of new IDA resources through grants and highly concessional loans and $12 billion for developing countries to finance the purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Source: Citibusinessnews.com