By Enyichukwu Enemanna
African leaders on Monday appealed to rich nations to commit record contributions to a low-interest World Bank facility in favour of developing nations, a fund that will assist them to finance their infrastructural development as well as combat climate change.
The leaders are urging donors to raise their contributions to at least $120bn to effectively help in enhancing climate action on the continent.
At a conference coming up in Japan in December, donors are expected to make their pledges to the International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank institution that offers loans with low interest rates and longer repayment period.
“We call on our partners to meet us at this historic moment of solidarity and respond effectively by increasing their IDA contributions… to at least $120 billion,” Kenya’s President William Ruto told a meeting of African leaders and the World Bank on Monday in Nairobi where discussion centred on the IDA funding.
According to the Kenyan leader, African economies were facing a “deepening development and debt crisis that threatens our economic stability, and urgent climate emergencies that demand immediate and collective action for our planet’s survival.”
He cited Kenya’s own devastating floods and a severe drought affecting Southern African nations such as Malawi.
If the donors pledge the minimum amount being requested by African leaders, it will be a new high after the last round of fundraising in 2021, which raked in $93 billion.
IDA lending operates on a three-year cycle, which is usually preceded by donors making their contributions at a global meeting.
IDA offers low interest rates loans to 75 developing nations around the world, the World Bank said, with more than half of them in Africa.
The funding is used by governments to boost access to energy and healthcare, invest in farming and also build critical infrastructure such as roads.
Ajay Banga, the president of the World Bank, promised to cut down “burdensome” rules that govern lending to nations under the IDA, to make it more efficient and to deliver funds to borrower nations faster.
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Heritage Times recalls that several African countries are battling the devastating effects of climate change which has also affected agriculture and food production.
In Kenya, flash floods caused by El Nino weather pattern have submerged roads and neighbourhoods, leading to the displacement of more than 130,000 people across 24,000 households, many of them in the capital Nairobi, according to government figures released Saturday.
Schools have been forced to remain shut following mid-term holidays, after the education ministry announced Monday that it would postpone their reopening by one week due to “ongoing heavy rains”.
Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu who is being represented by his Vice, Senator Kashim Shettima at the International Development Association (IDA21) Heads of State Summit in Nairobi is expected to take a lead role in advocating for Nigeria’s vision of a transformative IDA-21 financing package to accelerate development across the continent over the 2024-2026 period.
