Malé, Maldives – The Word Bank has promised Maldives with assistance in post-covid economy recovery efforts.
Faris Hadad-Zervis, Country Director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka has visited the Maldives regarding world bank assistance to the country to overcome the current health and economic crisis, and to establish a more concrete economy.
The trip was made following the publication of the World Bank’s Maldives Development Update: A Digital Dawn on April 15, 2021.
This report is based on the current state of the Maldivian economy, in addition to numerous economic projections, and highlights the adverse effects the covid-19 pandemic has had on the coountry’s economy.
The World Bank has stated that due to ever increasing tourist arrivals and various investments in the tourism sector, the Maldivian economy is expected to rise by 17.1%. They also touched on how digital technology can be used for economic improvements in addition to groundbreaking changes in the road to development.
Faris Hadad-Zervis met with multiple Ministers during his visit, and discussed some World Bank backed projects in the country. He had meetings with Minister Of Finance Ibrahim Ameer, Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail, Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam and Minister of Environment Dr.Sain Hassan. He also had a meeting with Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Governor Ali Hashim and higher ups of the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology.
The World Bank, back in April of 2020 , issued a $7.3 million COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project the Maldives to help the country prevent, detect, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen its public health preparedness. In addition, a $10 million contingency financing, under Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Financing with a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (CAT DDO), which was signed in 2019, was also made available to the country.
The World Bank has also previously provided USD 12.8 million in funding to the Maldivian government to supplement the nation’s Covid-19 recovery income support project, and later pledged an additional USD 21.6 million assisting the Maldivian government in providing income support to the citizens of the Maldives for the aid of families that have had their income negatively affected by the economic impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
