President Buhari

The World Bank has revealed a spending plan of $150 billion to support Africa in the next five years. Speaking at the Summit on Financing African Economies on Tuesday, the World Bank’s President, David Malpass, said a large portion of the outlay would take the form of grants and zero-interest long-term loans. He said the spending would consolidate the intervention of the bank in key developmental needs of Africa in the past decade during which it invested $200 billion in the region. He said the support would continue to provide “positive net-flow” to the continent to address developmental challenges. “Africa needs large inflows of long-term resources. In addition to the International Development Association (IDA), another important part of our support to Africa will be mobilization of the private sector, either directly through IFC and MIGA mobilizations or indirectly through the mobilization of funding by IDA and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) on capital markets,” Malpass said. He also disclosed a plan by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to launch a joint trade finance initiative in selected African countries to strengthen the economy and give the needed lift.
Guardian