World Bank heeds small islands’ call for support |25 October 2011

The bank’s executive director for Africa Group I, Dr Hassan Ahmed Taha, said this yesterday at State House after calling on Vice-President Danny Faure, who is also the Minister for Finance and Trade.

Also present at the meeting were principal secretary in that ministry Ahmed Afif and Central Bank governor Pierre Laporte.

Dr Hassan also announced that Seychelles will soon take charge of the group, first with a Seychellois as an alternate executive director, and then as a full executive director in 2014.

Seychelles has not held the posts in the past and so got the chance to occupy it, after which other countries of the group will take the position every two years on a rotational basis going by the nations’ alphabetical order.

He said talks with the government are centred on cushioning the economic by empowering the private sector to be more resilient to the global economic crisis.

Over 80 million residents of the Group I countries will be hit by poverty because of the crisis that is pushing commodity prices up, and the bank is working with the nations to mitigate the effects of the adverse economic climate.

He said although details of the areas the bank will help in have not been worked out yet, the bank is keen to target health care, education and social services for support.

Dr Hassan was accompanied by Dr Peter Larose, a Seychellois who works for the bank as senior adviser to the executive director.