World Bank provides two loans to Colombia for education and economy

The World Bank approved two loans worth $830 million that will promote economic recovery in Colombia and that will also be used to improve the public education sector, the multilateral agency reported.

The Director General of the National Planning Department (DNP), Alejandra Botero Barco, welcomed the news and said that “through these two loans, which are of great importance to Colombia, the World Bank would contribute to the financing of the National General Budget and the budget of the Ministry of Education National”.

In this regard, Mark R. Thomas, World Bank Director for Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela, pondered the approval of the credits as “both operations will support the government's efforts to promote more equitable access to opportunities for the most vulnerable groups in the aftermath of the pandemic.”

The first loan is for $750 million and will be used to promote new policies that improve the equity and resilience of households, including the barriers women face in accessing economic opportunities.

It will also support government efforts to mitigate and adapt the economy to climate change and measures for consolidation towards a low-carbon energy transition, as well as finance measures that contribute to the protection of wildlife, biodiversity and the reduction of deforestation.

The second loan is for 80 million dollars that will be used to promote improvements in pedagogical practices and the management of the education sector in Colombia, in order to obtain better learning outcomes, as well as strengthening socio-emotional education.

In addition, coordination between teachers, principals and local governments will be strengthened to improve the basic competencies of the most vulnerable students at the preschool and secondary levels.

One of the objectives of the loan, according to Thomas, is to help “recover the learning losses of millions of Colombian children and young people due to school closures during the pandemic, as well as to reduce the negative impacts of climate change, which disproportionately affect the country's poorest populations, are priorities for achieving an equitable and sustainable recovery”.

For her part, the director of the DNP said that these loans “will accompany the efforts that the National Government has undertaken in response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the official education system, and those that are focused on promoting an equitable and sustainable economic recovery.”

It is worth recalling that on March 16, the United States Congress approved the Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2022 and that for Colombia a cooperation fund amounting to 471.3 million dollars was allocated.

This represents an increase of $10 million over the previous year's budget, and $17.5 million more than requested by the Biden Administration.

It was Ambassador Juan Carlos Pinzón who announced the news: “These resources reach issues of social development, rural development, alternative development, but they also strengthen justice, the fight against crime. Resources arrive for Afro-descendant and indigenous populations and, in addition, resources to strengthen our military forces in different capacities, including demining, much of these resources also remain for a subsequent administration in Colombia”

KEEP READING: