Categories: Afghanistan

Three grant agreement worth $691m signed with WB

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:

  • $600 million to the Afghanistan Sehatmandi (Health) Project to increase the utilization and quality of health, nutrition, and family planning services across Afghanistan. IDA will provide $140 million, while ARTF is expected to provide an additional $425 million, supplemented by a $35 million grant from GFF. The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Public Health;
  • $51 million from IDA to the Afghanistan Digital CASA 1 Project to increase access to affordable internet, attract private investors to the sector, and improve the government’s capacity to deliver digital government services, by supporting a regionally integrated digital infrastructure and creating enabling environment. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology will be the implementing agency; and
  • $40 million from IDA to the Modernizing Afghan State Owned Banks Project that aims to strengthen corporate governance and enhance operational efficiency of state owned banks. The project, to be implemented by the Ministry of Finance, will contribute to the modernization, transparency, and efficiency of the three Afghan state-owned banks: New Kabul Bank, Bank Millie Afghan and Pashtany Bank, and will modernize their IT infrastructure and develop sustainable business models to support inclusive growth.

 

The Frontier Post

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