The Daily IIJ

Under its IDA pilot crisis response window, the World Bank has approved a US$7 million credit as supplementary financing to the government of Sierra Leone in support of the country’s 3rd governance reform and growth credit.
The credit is aimed at helping to implement Sierra Leone’s poverty reduction strategy in the context of a multi-donor budget support framework.
According to a World Bank statement, the one-tranche credit provides supplemental financing to the third in a programmatic series of three development policy operations by the Bank in support of the country’s transition from post-conflict recovery to sustainable development. The IDA pilot crisis response window is designed to assist countries to cope with the effects of the global economic downturn.
The operation, the Bank noted, will contribute to government’s efforts to maintain poverty reducing spending and promote private sector growth while safeguarding macroeconomic stability despite the impact of the global recession.
“Specifically, it will support the government’s efforts with reform measures to: preserve the fiscal space needed for poverty reduction; promote efficiency, transparency and accountability in the use of public resources through enhanced public financial management and governance; and improve the investment climate by ensuring the provision of electricity in a fiscally sustainable manner,” the statement said.
The measures supported by the credit are expected to have a positive impact on poverty reduction, it said, adding that strengthening the public financial management system to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability will contribute to better basic service delivery.
It is expected that the support provided to the decentralization of public services should contribute to reduced inequality.
Higher electricity sector revenues, it further observed, will help reduce the crowding out of basic services by fuel procurement necessitated by the 2008/2009 emergency power program.
World Bank country director, Ishac Diwan, said the credit supports the positive and broad based progress that Sierra Leone is making across a range of reform areas.