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World Bank and Nigerian president discuss economic crisis, Abacha loot

InvestAdvocate — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 16:57:54 +0000

Credit: Premium Times

Wed Apr 27, 2016/Reuters

By Felix Onua

The World Bank’s managing director and Nigeria’s president on Wednesday discussed how the multilateral lender could help Nigeria overcome its economic crisis and repatriate more than $300 million stolen by a former military ruler.

On her second day of meetings with Nigerian officials, World Bank Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer Sri Mulyani Indrawati held talks with President Muhammadu Buhari which centered around plans to stimulate the flagging economy with a record 6 trillion naira ($31 billion) budget.

The economic crisis in Africa’s top oil exporter has been caused mainly by a sharp fall in crude prices eating into its oil revenues, which make up about 70 percent of national income.

Nigeria will have to borrow 1.8 trillion naira from abroad and at home to help fund the budget, which has been delayed by several months and wrangling with parliament, if it goes ahead.

Although Nigeria has held talks with the World Bank over a possible loan or credit facility in recent months, Indrawati did not address this when speaking to reporters after the meeting.

“We would like to know how we can help Nigeria to make the very important decisions, whether on micro economic policy and other sectoral policy, that will make this economy move forward to become a strong middle income country,” she said.

Nigeria’s economy, the largest in Africa, grew by 2.8 percent last year, its slowest pace since 1999.

Indrawati, who met Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun on Tuesday, said she and Buhari discussed the government’s “commendable goals to improve tax collection and crackdown on corruption”.

During the meeting, Buhari urged the World Bank to assist in the repatriation of $320 million stolen by former military leader Sani Abacha, which is being held by authorities in Switzerland, his office said in a statement.

One of the conditions given by Swiss Authorities for repatriation of the funds was that the money should be used for social welfare programs, which is to be monitored by the World Bank.

“We are as concerned as the World Bank about accountability. If such repatriated funds have been misapplied in the past, I assure you that the same will not happen with us,” said Buhari, who won an election last April on an anti-corruption ticket.

The statement added that $320 million was “a lot of money” which would “help to ease the current economic hardship facing the country”.

(Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram, editing by Ed Osmond)

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Remarks by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim at the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings 2016

InvestAdvocate — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 09:46:50 +0000

14/4/2016/World Bank

As Prepared for Delivery

April 14, 2016

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the 2016 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.

I would like to first acknowledge our 189^th member country — the Pacific island state of Nauru, which officially joined the World Bank Group just two days ago. On behalf of the institution, I’m very happy to welcome the Republic of Nauru to the World Bank Group.

At our last gathering in Lima, we announced that for the first time the percentage of people living in extreme poverty around the world was projected to fall under 10 percent globally in 2015. Today, roughly 700 million people live in extreme poverty – a reduction of more than 1 billion people than 15 years ago.

But the weakening global economy threatens our progress toward ending extreme poverty by 2030. In the global economy, there are not many bright spots around the world — the United States is one among the developed economies and India is another among the middle-income countries. Growth remains weak in Europe and Japan, and among emerging economies, Russia and Brazil are projected to post negative growth once again. We have just downgraded our global growth economic forecast this year to 2.5 percent from 2.9 percent.

In this period of global economic slowdown, we’re also facing major global challenges — forced displacement, climate change, and pandemics. We’re now working urgently and in new ways with partners to find solutions to these issues that affect all of us.

On forced displacement, for instance, we’re using innovative financial tools right now to fund projects that will create thousands of jobs for Syrian refugees and their Jordanian hosts. We’re also working with Lebanon to make sure all children in the country – Lebanese and Syrian refugees – are going to school. We need to do much, much more to provide hope and opportunity for young people in countries affected by conflict, especially in the Middle East and Africa.

On climate change, we must deliver on the promises of the Paris climate agreement, and yet we’re seeing countries around the world about to sign agreements for the dirtiest source of energy, coal. So we’re working with countries right now to piece together deals that would make renewable energy cheaper than coal.

Because of the weak global economy, and because of these global challenges, the demand for our services has never been higher outside of a crisis period. We project that we’ll provide more than $25 billion in loans this year to middle-income countries – that’s $10 billion more than we had projected. Including this year’s projections, World Bank lending will top $150 billion dollars in the last four years – more than any other four-year span in the World Bank’s history in a non-crisis period.

This increased demand underscores the importance for donor countries to support our replenishment this year for the International Development Association, or IDA, which gives low-cost loans or grants to the poorest countries. In the last five years alone, IDA has supported the recruitment or training of 5.1 million teachers; antenatal care for 17 million pregnant women; improved water services for 50 million people; and the construction or improvement of 102,000 kilometers of roads.

IDA also helps developing countries enact policies that promote inclusive economic growth, attract private sector investment, and invest in people’s education and health. A strong IDA replenishment this year will be essential for us to work on our goals to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity, to continue our intense focus on the poorest countries in the world including in Africa and South Asia, and to broaden our work to tackle these global challenges.

Thank you very much. I’ll now take your questions.

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World Bank Group to Invest $2.5 Billion in Education Projects Benefiting Adolescent Girls

InvestAdvocate — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 09:41:40 +0000

13/4/2016/World Bank

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim today announced that the World Bank Group would invest $2.5 billion over 5 years in education projects that directly benefit adolescent girls, whose empowerment is central to the Bank Group’s development efforts. The announcement, made at the Let Girls Learn event during the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings, was followed by a call to action from the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, urging key policymakers and influencers from around the world to commit to urgent action in support of adolescent girls.

“I’m very excited to join the First Lady in announcing this major boost in funding for adolescent girls’ education,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “Empowering and educating adolescent girls is one of the best ways to stop poverty from being passed from generation to generation, and can be transformational for entire societies. This increased funding will help provide countries, especially in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with the tools to expand access to quality education so that all adolescent girls can go to school and reach their full potential.”

First Lady Michelle Obama highlighted the power of this investment in adolescent girls, as well as the transformative impact that adolescent girls’ education has on girls, their families and their countries.

“This isn’t just a breathtaking investment of resources, it’s also a powerful statement of mission – it’s an expression of our belief in the power of education to transform the lives and prospects of millions of girls worldwide – as well as the prospects of their families, communities and countries,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “The evidence is very clear: when we invest in girls’ education, and we embrace women in our workforce, that doesn’t just benefit them, it benefits all of us.”

By 2020 the Bank Group expects to invest at least $2.5 billion in education projects targeting adolescent girls (ages 12-17). About 75 percent of these investments are expected to be from IDA, the Bank Group’s fund for the poorest countries, and largely in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which have the highest number of out-of-school girls.

Programs to be supported will include a range of efforts to provide adolescent girls with access to quality education at the secondary level, ensure they are enrolled in and stay in school, and provision of scholarships, conditional cash transfers, and schools with basic facilities like clean drinking water and toilets that promote enrollment.

Today, 62 million girls around the world are not in school, and half of them are adolescents. A World Bank study found that every year of secondary school education is correlated with an 18 percent increase in a girl’s future earning power. Research shows that educating girls has a multiplier effect: better educated women tend to be healthier, participate more in the formal labor market, earn more income, give birth to fewer children, marry at a later age, and provide better health care and education to their children.

Educating adolescent girls and promoting gender equality is part of a broader, holistic effort by the Bank Group. This includes financing and analytical work in support of removing financial barriers that keep girls out of school, delaying child marriage, improving access to reproductive health services, and strengthening skills and job opportunities for adolescent girls and young women.

This multidimensional approach is outlined in the Bank Group’s new global strategy for gender equality. Today’s commitment represents a major step toward implementing the goals of this strategy as well as helping achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 4, which calls for access to quality education and lifelong learning for all, and Goal 5 to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.

As always, Bank Group financing depends on country demand, the state of the global economy, and a strong replenishment this December of IDA, the Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries.

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