The World Bank’s (WB) executive board has approved $300 in fresh funds for Afghanistan and the grant would be paid out through the International Development Association (IDA).
The new funding would be deployed “through grants to United Nations agencies and other public international organizations, the WB said in a statement.
The Bank’s new engagement with Afghanistan, dubbed “Approach 3.0,” will also revive a regional infrastructure project that was paused after the Taliban took control of the South Asian country in August 2021, the Bank announced.
The $300 million grant would be paid out over the next 15 months through the IDA, its lending arm for some of the world’s poorest countries, according to The Sun.
The development lender said that the funds would remain outside the control of the caretaker government and would complement Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund (ARTF) donor financing in supporting critical basic services such as food, water, health, Education and jobs, Reuters reported.
Under the approach, World Bank’s lending arm for some of the world’s poorest countries, known as the International Development Association (IDA), will make available around $300 million over the next 15 months, subject to further board approval, a spokesperson told AFP.
On Thursday, the World Bank also approved the resumption of a $1.2 billion clean energy project known as CASA-1000, which involves three countries nearby to Afghanistan: Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.
“Construction in the other three participating countries is nearly complete and these countries have requested that CASA-1000 activities in Afghanistan resume to avoid the risk of the project becoming a stranded asset,” the Bank said.
As with the IDA funding, this project will be carried out in a way that ensures it does not involve the Taliban government’s systems, it added.
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