Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the managing director of the World Bank, delivered a message of hope to the people of Guinea Bissau at the end of her two-day visit to the West African country recently. ” I heard a lot about challenges in this fragile state, including a debt equivalent to 400 per cent of the gross domestic product, a high wage bill and conflict. However, we also have to open our eyes to the opportunities Guinea Bissau has in several sectors”, she said.
In a meeting with Joao Bernardo Vieira, the country’s President, she emphasised the need for the government to define a vision for the country. She urged the authorities of Guinea Bissau to look beyohd the parliamentary elections planned for November 16, 2008, so that the country and the government will be able to select limited and hign impacting priorities to be achieved during the coming years.
She underlined fiscal consolidation, reforming the energy sector, improving production and productivity in agriculture, especially rice production for this former rice exporter, deregulating the telecommunications sector and securing peace and stability as the key elements of any programme.
Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that Guinea Bissau is to receive a grant of $ millions from the Global Food Crisis Response Trust Funds,$ 1.5 million of which is to help mitigate the losses to the country’s budget from tax exemptions granted for rice and fuel imports since March 2008, and the remaining $ 3.5 millions earmarked for a contribution to the Governments Emergency plan for the Agricultural Campaign 2008/ 2009 through community-driven activities. In addition, she pointed out that ” the country will get over 60 per cent of its budget as additional financial resources to be invested in social sectors such as health and education and other infrastructure”