Pledge of $160bn for sub-Saharan Africa region

JOHANNESBURG – The World Bank Group has committed $160billion (R3trillion) up to June next year to help developing countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

World Bank Group president David Malpass on Friday said the bank was supporting more than 100 countries in several ways to deal with the impact of Covid-19, with the healthcare crisis being of primary concern.

“In response to Covid-19, the World Bank Group has focused on taking fast, broad-based action (that) has resulted in new, health emergency programmes in more than 100 countries by the end of April, many of those are in sub-Saharan Africa,” Malpaas said.

“The World Bank Group will work to deploy as much as $160bn over the next 15 months. It is tailored to the nature of the health, economic and social shocks that countries are facing.”

Malpass said other development finance institutions, including the Asian Development Bank and the American Development Bank, as a group had committed about $80bn over the same period, bringing the total amount to $240bn.