The World Bank Country Director to Liberia Khwima Nthara has hailed the signing of the $40 million International Development Association (IDA) Financing Agreement for the implementation of the Liberia Investment Finance and Trade (LIFT) project.
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The project aims to improve the investment climate, expand sustainable access to finance, and increase the efficiency of trade in Liberia. Importantly, the project incorporates features that seek to address the identified gaps between men and women with respect to their participation in economic activities in the country, especially around differential constraints, and performance between women-owned and men-owned firms.
The LIFT project that was signed by Liberia and the World Bank on Monday amounts to US$40 million. US$20 million is an IDA grant and the other US$ 20 million is a concessional IDA credit. The financing was approved by the World Bank on February 9, 2022.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the World Bank Country Director said the event marked another important milestone in the development of the partnership between the World Bank and Liberia.
"This is the first time the World Bank is providing such a significant amount of financing to support programs for improving the investment climate for the private sector," he said.
Mr. Nthara added: "As you can see, the LIFT project will be a game-changer for Liberia. It sends a loud and clear message that Liberia is open for business and that it will be the investors' destination of choice."
The World Bank Country Director furthers that the LIFT project is in recognition of the significant progress that the Weah-led government has made in stabilizing the macro-economy of the country over the past three years.
This, he sais, has resulted in Liberia being removed from the World Bank list of countries categorized as fragile and conflict-affected situations after an improvement in the country's overall rating under the World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA). ■