Economics & Development

The development objective of the Grenada - First Competitiveness and Resilience Development Policy Credit with a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option for Grenada is to support policy reforms that foster a more competitive business environment and strengthen resilience to climate and other shocks. The operation focuses on two areas of work. First, to support a competitive business environment, it advances trade facilitation by establishing an advance rulings regime on tariff classification and origin to reduce uncertainty and clearance times at customs, and modernizes the payments ecosystem by enacting a legal framework that licenses and oversees bank and non-bank payment service providers, expands consumer protection, and enables digital and mobile payments under the oversight of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. Second, to strengthen resilience, it introduces comprehensive water resources and wastewater governance through a new legal framework for licensing water abstraction and regulating effluent disposal; establishes a national, risk-based asset management system to register, assess, and prioritize maintenance and investment decisions for public buildings; and improves the targeting methodology of the Support for Education, Empowerment and Development cash transfer program to better identify poor and vulnerable households, including female-headed households, and to enable faster, more predictable support in crises. The operation also provides a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option that offers pre-arranged, rapid liquidity upon a government disaster declaration, reinforcing disaster risk financing and helping reduce the time from shock to first emergency transfer. Expected results include lower import clearance times, greater use of electronic funds transfers, issuance of water and effluent licenses, widespread adoption of risk prioritization scores for public buildings, faster post-shock disbursements, and more SEED beneficiaries accurately identified as poor.

The review outlines: debt sustainability framework for low-income countries (LIC-DSF) primer; impact of changing debt landscape on LIC-DSF implementation; backward-looking analysis of current LIC-DSF; reform proposals; and next steps.

WA-REMP MPA Phase II: Regional Access Increase and Sustainable Energy for The Gambia, Togo, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has the development objectives to increase on-grid electricity access and enable renewable energy generation in targeted project areas of the participating countries. Component 1 – On-Grid Electricity Access supports accelerated connections through grid works and customer interfaces. Sub-components 1.1 – Network Densification finances the supply and installation of customer connection equipment (such as prepaid meters, service drops, and ready boards) and limited low-voltage reinforcements to connect households located near existing networks in partially electrified areas, including support to connection affordability mechanisms in Togo and upgrades of informal networks where needed. Sub-components 1.2 – Electrification of Unelectrified Communities finances feasibility studies, detailed design, and construction of medium-voltage and low-voltage distribution networks with service drops and metering to connect households, schools, health centers, and businesses in priority unelectrified settlements, integrating climate-resilient design features such as elevated transformers, deeper pole foundations, and improved switching and monitoring. Component 2 – Renewable Energy Development Support strengthens enabling conditions and prepares privately financed generation. Sub-components 2.1 – Enabling Environment provides technical assistance to improve utility financial viability and sector policies, including smart metering and information systems upgrades for loss reduction, tariff modeling support, adoption of a cash waterfall mechanism for payment discipline in The Gambia, and support to tariff revision and utility restructuring in Togo. Sub-components 2.2 – Transaction Advisory and Risk Mitigation provides end-to-end transaction support for competitively procured renewable energy projects, including the second phase of the Soma solar park in The Gambia and solar and hydropower opportunities in Togo, while assessing risk mitigation options such as credit enhancement and political risk insurance. Sub-components 2.3 – The Gambia River Basin Development Organization (OMVG) Hydropower Plant Development Support prepares a bankable tender package through due diligence on feasibility, environmental and social instruments, market assessments, and bidding documents to attract private participation in regional hydropower. Component 3 – Institutional Strengthening and Implementation Support enhances national and regional capacity and coordination. Sub-components 3.1 – Country Technical Assistance and Implementation Support funds training in power system planning, financial modeling, and network operation, feasibility studies and digital tools, environmental and social risk management, citizen engagement, gender initiatives to increase women’s participation in technical and managerial roles, and project management resources. Sub-components 3.2 – Regional Institutional and Implementation Support strengthens the ECOWAS Regional Coordination Unit for procurement aggregation, works supervision support, contract management, learning and knowledge sharing, development of standardized environmental and social templates, and capacity building for the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) on market oversight and dispute resolution as regional trading platforms advance.