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· The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors discusseda new Country Partnership Framework for Sierra Leone for 2021-2026
· The plan lays focus on investments in human capital, jobcreation, economic diversification and building a resilient healthcare system
· Due to the impact of the pandemic, the economy is estimatedto have contracted between 2.3 per cent and 3.1 percent in 2020 andgrowth could be 1.4 to 2.0 percentage points lower than forecast forthe medium term
The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors discussed a new Country Partnership Framework for Sierra Leone for 2021-2026. The plan lays focus on investments in human capital, job creation, economic diversification and building a resilient healthcare system. Sierra Leone’s economy grew by 5.1 percent in 2019 thanks to buoyancy in agriculture and services. Due to the impact of the pandemic, the economy is estimated to have contracted between 2.3 per cent and 3.1 percent in 2020 and growth could be 1.4 to 2.0 percentage points lower than forecast for the medium term.
The life expectancy is the lowest for the country at 51 coupled with high maternal and child mortality rates. More than one tenth of
new-born children die before reaching age of five and the country has the highest maternal mortality globally. Many poverty alleviation programs are being implemented by the government. But the results on the ground are seemingly slow. The real income of the people is stagnant, while the population is growing at 2.1 per cent.
The three pillars of World Bank’s intervention are building human capital, enhancing the quality of education, addressing the reproductive maternity and children’s mortality rates, early warning systems for diseases and scaling up social security systems. The
second strategy would be to enhance the competitiveness of the business enterprises so as to make them more efficient. This calls for
deployment of state-of-the-art –technologies, including digital technologies. Third focus will be to improve the macro-economic stability of the country, such as holding the price line, containing fiscal profligacy and augmenting exports.
