Will The World Bank Loan Help With Botswana's Economic Recovery And Transformation?
On Friday, the World Bank announced that it had approved a $250 million (around P2.6 billion) loan to Botswana to support the country's implementation of its Economic Recovery & Transformation Plan . The Programmatic Economic Resilience and Green Recovery Development Policy Loan (DPL) is designed to strengthen the country's COVID-19 pandemic relief and also bolster resilience to future shocks. According to the World Bank, the DPL is also designed to support reforms to strengthen private sector development and also promote green recovery. The loan is the World Bank's first-ever support for Botswana's national budget and is the first of two planned budget support operations. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen Botswana experience its worst-ever budget deficit for the 2020/21 financial year, totaling a whooping P21 billion or 11% of GDP. The pandemic also offset a GDP contraction of 7.9%, again the highest in the country's history, which saw a reduction of the count
