The Board of the World Bank Group has approved 2 operations for the Maldives amounting to USD 30 million to support the government's efforts in strengthening policy framework, enhancing the sustainability of public finances, increasing budget credibility and to enhance our financial capacity to effectively manage the human, physical and fiscal impact on climate change and disasters.
On no-objection basis, the World Bank approved the First Fiscal Sustainability and Budget Credibility Development Policy Financing Operation in the amount of USD 10 million in credit terms and an amount of USD 10 million in grant terms. The operation is the first in a series of two Development Policy Financing operations. The objective of the operation is to support the government in its efforts to improve the policy framework and enhance the sustainability of public finances as well as to strengthen the policy framework and increase the credibility of the budget.
The board also approved The Development Policy Financing with Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat DDO) of an amount of USD 5 million in credit terms and an amount of USD 5 million in grant terms. The World Bank said the objective of the project is to enhance the financial capacity of Maldives to effectively manage the human, physical and fiscal impact of climate change, natural disasters and disease outbreaks. The objective would be achieved by supporting policy reforms under three pillars: Enhancing the institutional and regulatory framework to manage the impact of climate and disaster risk; integrating climate and disaster risk reduction in key sectors; and Enhancing the capacity to manage human health crisis preparedness and response.
The operation includes the Cat DDO that will provide immediate liquidity to the Maldives in the aftermath of a disaster resulting from a natural disaster including public health emergencies, and access to the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) which will provide financing to the Maldives through the PEF’s cash and insurance windows to respond to high-severity disease outbreaks and to prevent them from becoming pandemics, according to World Bank.