Country Director of the World Bank, Mr Pierre Laporte
• The World Bank has given Ghana another US$100 million to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic
• Mr Pierre Laporte said the World Bank will support the country until the desired results in the fight against the pandemic are achieved.
• The country has received a total of US$300.00 million loan from the World Bank
The Country Director of the World Bank, Mr Pierre Laporte, has stressed the preparedness of the World Bank to support Africa and Ghana especially in the fight against the pandemic.
The World Bank in the early days of the outbreak of COVID-19, gave the country US$100 million to help in the fight against the virus in April 2020.
Speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the World Bank and the Government of Ghana for another $200 million loan, Mr Laporte commended Ghana for the efforts put in place in controlling the widespread of the virus, so far.
“I thank the Government of Ghana for your support in implementing the first two projects which were supported by the World Bank for Ghana towards the fight against the pandemic. A big congratulation to the Ministry of Health for the exemplary manner in which you have managed both the health service of the country and the economic impact of the pandemic. There have been clear signals that the country is recovering faster from the pandemic than initially planned and this is good news,” he said on July 13, 2021.
He reiterated the World Bank will continue to extend its support to the country until the desired results in the fight against the pandemic are achieved.
“Today, I am pleased to sign the second additional financing and to note and remind everyone that this specific project is focusing mostly on the vaccine, while the first funding was to provide support for initial stages on how to fight the pandemic, and we are now moving to next phase and we think this is extremely important to Ghana to be better prepared to deliver the vaccine to the people which is critical in the recovery of the health system and the economy,” he added.
He, however, stressed the recovery process will not be easy but steps must be taken to address it as it is the reality.