The loan agreements are the financing agreement between The Gambia and Islamic Development Bank, financing agreement between The Gambia and Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and the financing agreement between The Gambia and OPEC Fund for International Development.
For the Islamic Development Bank loan agreement, Minister Colley informed deputies that the credit financing instrument was signed with the Islamic Development Bank on 26 June 2014 for ID10,000,000 equivalent to USD 15,000,000, for the funding of the Building Resilience to Recurring Food Insecurity in The Gambia project.
Minister Colley said the project aims at contributing to warding-off drought and famine that devastates The Gambia and sets back its economic and social achievement.
The objective of the project is to enhance and secure the livelihood of the targeted rural population by increasing the productive capacity of their assets, develop their capacity to adapt to climate change, and improving the decision makers’ capacity to manage food crisis, he said.
The project target groups are poor rural households, especially women, and the key crops targeted include all major grains, especially the staple crop rice, he further stated.
The livestock sector and pastoralism are also targeted, to enhance income of the rural poor and to improve their resilience to food security shocks, he added.
On the Arab Bank loan agreement, the Finance Minister said a credit financing instrument was signed with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) on 10 October 2014 for USD5,000,000 for the funding of the Support to Basic and Secondary School Education Project.
The objective of the project is to create an enabling environment for teaching and learning in basic and secondary schools, and to cope with the continuous expansion of universal basic education to enhance the efficiency and quality of education in Gambian schools, he told deputies.
For the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Finance Minister said a credit financing instrument was signed with the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) on 13 August 2014 for USD 5,000,000 for the funding of the Support to Basic and Secondary Education School project.
Minister Colley added that the objective of the project is to support the government’s current education policy and its plans, which seek to complement national development efforts by giving education direction and prominence to provide equal opportunities for all and achieve sustainable development.
