SOUTH AFRICA’S WORLD BANK LOAN TO BOOST COVID-19
The World Bank has given South Africa yet another financial lifeline of $750m loan in a bid to accelerate the country’s Covid-19 response. The announcement by the bank was made over the weekend, in a joint statement.
The government, spearheaded by President Cyril Ramaphosa approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for emergency loans, to muscle up their response to the pandemic.
In July 2020, the IMF loaned the government $4.3 billion and now the World Bank has also poured in, providing $750-million.
The loan has been offered under the World Bank’s development policy loan programme, which offers countries financial support that typically comes with interest rates of about 1% or 2%.
Economists have welcomed the announcement by the bank and have emphasised that this should not be seen as ‘new’ financing.
https://africaequity.net/south-africas-world-bank-loan-to-boost-covid-19-response/
