The World Bank Group (WBG) and its counterpart in the Dominican Republic, which is the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD), presented the new Country Alliance Framework (MAP), the World Bank Group’s strategy that defines support for the development priorities of the Caribbean country for the next five years and that includes financing of up to US$1.8 billion for development projects.
The event was headed by Mari Pangestu, Managing Director of Development Policies and Alliances of the World Bank Group, accompanied by the Minister of Economy, Planning and Development, Miguel Ceara Hatton, the World Bank Director for Central America and the Dominican Republic, Michel Kerf, the resident representative of the World Bank in the country, Alexandria Valerio, and the IFC representative in the country, Carolina Cárdenas. Prepared in close coordination with the National Development Strategy 2030, the Multi-Year Plan for the Public Sector and the Sustainable Development Goals; The MAP proposes to support reforms in key sectors such as: electricity, water, housing, health, social protection and the environment. The World Bank Group will channel this support through financial resources, non-reimbursable technical assistance and donations.
Minister Ceara Hatton acknowledges “the support of the World Bank to achieve our objectives of improving people’s quality of life; This entity has a broad agenda of development and investment issues in sectors that are currently priorities, such as water, recovery, and the electricity sector, which are included in the new Country Alliance Framework (MAP)”.
Pangestu expressed his gratitude that his first trip to the Dominican Republic coincided with the launch of the MAP, which represents a perfect opportunity to speak and rethink the future of the country.
This Partnership Framework with the Country contemplates three key results with sustained and long-term improvements that will contribute to the well-being of people:
• Improve access to the provision of quality public services, which seek to alleviate fiscal space and public spending, supporting the electricity sector reform program for greater efficiency, and increasing the coverage and quality of health networks and social protection.
• Achieve a greater number of high-quality jobs, improving the quality of education and job training; strengthen the investment climate, increase and diversify business markets; This will be achieved by mobilizing financing for infrastructure and neglected groups, decent and quality housing, with an emphasis on households headed by women, granting mortgage financing from the National Housing Program, increasing loans to women, small and medium-sized businesses, encouraging public-private projects and facilitating green financing.
• Achieve greater resilience to climate change, by improving the sustainability of the landscape and natural resources, including “blue economy” assets, improving water resource management, and further strengthening the country’s institutional and financial capacity to address better exposure to natural disasters.
Kerf stated that the new Country Alliance Framework is a vote of confidence and a commitment assumed by the World Bank Group to continue supporting recovery efforts, so that the achievements made are not lost.
private arm
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will be focused on mobilizing private capital through PPPs to leverage investment needs, while the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) will continue to focus on mitigating risks to stimulate private investment and improve the investment climate.
The MAP is a dynamic, publicly accessible instrument that benefits from analytical studies by the World Bank and a broad consultation process with civil society, academia, the private sector, and the international community.
As of March 2021, the World Bank’s active portfolio amounts to US$768.5 million in support of projects in the sectors of education, social protection, electricity, drinking water and sanitation, and resilient agriculture.
Recently completed WBG advisory and analysis work includes a public spending with a focus on social protection and water, a diagnostic and analysis work on investment in infrastructure. Current analytical work focuses on territorial development, consumer protection, a country economic memorandum, the trade and investment climate, a poverty and gender assessment, and support for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). , in English).