St Lucia: The World Bank Board of Executive Directors issued US$30 million to Saint Lucia to fight against COVID-19, Recovery, and Resilience Development Policy Credit.
This quick-disbursing credit aims to help alleviate the negative economic impacts of COVID-19 on the weakest Saint Lucians.
It also intends to strengthen the country’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and improve resilience to shocks in the medium term.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had severe social and economic impacts on the Caribbean small states, especially those that are highly dependent on tourism like Saint Lucia,” said Tahseen Sayed, World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean.
“This financing aims to provide Saint Lucia urgent support to protect lives and livelihoods and strengthen economic resilience.”
Saint Lucia’s GDP is projected to decline by 18 percent in 2020 due to the nearly complete halt in tourism.
This World Bank financing is required to help the government enhance the health sector’s capacity and provide short-term relief to the low, small businesses, and the most severely affected workers.
It supports projects to ensure business continuity and save jobs. The operation promotes medium-term resilience through fundamental reforms to improve public financial management, procurement, and debt transparency.
Resilience will also be improved through reforms related to financial stability to disasters and education sector policies.
This operation is joined with the Government of Saint Lucia’s reform program and COVID-19 response strategy.
The financing, which is from the International Development Association (IDA), is interest-free with a maturity of 40 years, including a form period of 10 years.
Recently St Lucia has confirmed COVID-19 cases in two-digit numbers, and under the Allen Chastanet, the government Island nation is trying to fight against this virus.
If anyone is experiencing flu-like symptoms, it is essential to keep away from others and urgently seek medical care at your nearest community respiratory clinic for assessment.
