Monitoring Desk
KABUL: Minister of Finance Eklil Hakimi and World Bank Country Director Shubham Chaudhuri on Tuesday signed three grant agreements worth $691million to help revitalise Afghanistan’s economy and improve access to quality healthcare.
Minister of Public Health Dr. Ferozuddin Feroz, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Shahzad Aryobee and acting vice-president of World Bank for South Asia Ethel Sennhauser were present at the signing ceremony.
The new financing, which was approved by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on March 28, aims to help Afghanistan increase access to quality healthcare, modernise state-owned banks and expand regional telecommunication connectivity, e-government services and create an enabling environment for private sector investment.
Speaking on the occasion, Hakimi said: “Improving the quality of health services, strengthening the banking infrastructure and digitising government systems will enhance our ability to deliver better services to our people.”
The financing package includes grants of $231 million provided by the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, as well as $425 million from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), and $35 million from the Global Financing Facility (GFF).
Chaudhuri noted: “Afghanistan is implementing an ambitious reform program in a context of strong budget pressures imposed by low domestic revenue, though improving, massive security spending and enormous development need.”
In this challenging environment, he said, “we remain committed to helping the Government of Afghanistan further improve service delivery to the Afghan people. For example, the new health project will improve health and nutrition services for the entire population of the country in all 34 provinces.”
The total support of $691million consists of three grants:
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