Tony Chukwunyem 
The World Bank has unveiled several measures, includ- ing pausing debt repayments, to help countries respond quickly in the event of them being hit by a crisis. World Bank President, Ajay Banga, announced the new measures at the summit for a New Global Financial Pact, in Paris, yesterday.
According to him, the expanded toolkit for crisis preparedness, response, and recovery, includes: Pausing debt repayments; redirecting financing; linking crisis preparedness and financing; backstopping development projects with private sector support, and building enhanced catastrophe insurance without debt.
Specifically, he stated that the bank offered a pause in debt repayments so countries could focus on what matters, not worrying about the bill. “To allow countries to focus on meeting the urgent needs of their people instead of on loan repayments, the World Bank Group will launch Climate Resilient Debt Clauses.
These will provide a pause in debt repayments for the most vulnerable countries in times of crisis or catastrophe. We will start these new crisis debt clauses with the most vulnerable clients, and we intend to learn and work with all stakeholders to expand coverage,” he said.
He further stated that “the World Bank Group will put in place a new rapid response option, offering all client countries the ability to immediately repurpose a portion of their lending portfolio for emergency needs when a crisis occurs – for example to redeploy undisbursed funds in longer[1]term infrastructure projects for immediate disaster response.”
In addition, he announced that in order to allow more countries to build emergency systems and have quick-disbursing finance available in times of crisis, the bank “will increasingly link investments in prevention and preparedness with financing for catastrophe and crisis response support.”
