$80 million; this is the amount of the first financing World Bank recently approved for Somalia; the first ever direct financing the Bretton Woods institution would provide to the country, in about thirty years.  

In a release quoted by Reuters last Tuesday, World Bank commented that the funding was a great step in Somalia’s reconstruction and development process.

As detailed by the institution, $60 million will be used to finance the reforms and current expenditures initiated by the government. The remaining $20 million are to be invested in a project aimed at increasing the country’s domestic revenues and improve its public funds' management capability.

World Bank will also collaborate with Somalia to improve the education, health, drinking water access, electricity and finance sectors in the framework of its Country Partnership Framework.

Let’s remind that World Bank stopped supporting Somalia financially in 1991 when war broke out in the country. The current funds are provided in a context of increasing stability (positively affecting local investments but also those from the diaspora) in Somalia, its capital notably.

It is also worth reminding that according to IMF, Somali’s economy should grow by 3.1% this year.

Schadrac Akinocho