The US$5m COVID-19 loan application to the World Bank by the APNU+AFC government was not approved and had to be resubmitted by the PPP/C administration when it took office, sources say.
Currently, teams from both sides are in discussions about the new submission and an agreement is likely to be signed by the end of next month, sources close to the process told this newspaper that a similar loan was being pursued with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
“The facility was denied to the former government. US$5M. There is also a negotiation for a similar COVID-19 loan with the IDB,” the source said.
After the March 2nd elections and as the nation awaited results, then Minister of Finance Winston Jordan had announced that this country had sought a US$5 million loan from the World Bank to implement measures for tackling the virus, which has already had a devastating global impact and continues to spread.
In late April, he had expressed optimism that the request would be approved and had said that it was still being processed.
But observers had long doubted that the loan would be approved given the electoral circumstances of the country at the time where several questions were raised about the legitimacy of the APNU+AFC government.
Following questions by Stabroek News in April, the global financial body did not indicate if it was anywhere closer to processing that loan request though it had approved amounts for several Caribbean countries.
“The World Bank is working with countries around the Caribbean, and across the world, to assess the impact of the pandemic and the needs due to the COVID-19 situation. We maintain a dialogue on this issue with countries and development partners for a coordinated engagement,” the World Bank said in a statement, following questions posed by this newspaper.
It added that it was maintaining a similar process in Guyana while continuing to assess the situation in the country.
On April 2, the first group of projects using the dedicated COVID-19 Fast-Track Facility, amounting to US$1.9 billion and assisting 25 countries, was rolled out. In addition, the World Bank said that it is working worldwide to redeploy resources in existing World Bank-financed projects, ”including through restructuring and use of projects’ emergency components as well as contingent financing instruments designed for catastrophes, including pandemics.”
On May 19, the Bank announced its emergency operations to fight COVID-19 had reached 100 developing countries – home to 70% of the world’s population.
