World Bank Approves US$40 Million for Madagascar Emergency Food Security and Reconstruction Project

Contacts:

In Washington:  Rachel McColgan-Arnold (202) 458-5299

rmccolgan@worldbank.org;

In Antananarivo : Erick Rabemananoro (261-20) 22 560 00

erabemananoro@worldbank.org

WASHINGTON– December 16, 2008 - The World Bank Group Board today approved a credit to the Republic of Madagascar in the amount of US$40 million to finance an Emergency Food Security and Reconstruction Project.

The project will finance a cash-for-work program to increase access to short-term employment in targeted food-insecure areas.  It will also seek to restore access to social and economic services (schools, health centers, small roads, water systems, etc.) in the aftermath of catastrophic events, including cyclones.  Finally, the project will finance community-based social infrastructure sub-projects in order to increase access to social and economic services among the poorest communities.  The implementing agency, the Fonds d’Intervention pour le Développement (FID), was established in 1993 to implement community development projects. 

Madagascar is currently facing a challenging situation, created by the combined impacts of the food price crisis, the oil price shock, and a devastating 2008 cyclone season with damages estimated at US$174 million.  “The Bank developed a three-pronged response in support to the Government of Madagascar” remarked Jacques Morisset, Acting Country Manager of the World Bank office in Madagascar.  “This is the final and largest tranche of assistance.”

First, a budget support operation amounting to US$10 million helped alleviate the immediate macroeconomic impact of the crises.  Second, in October 2008, the Bank provided additional financing (US$30 million) to the existing IDA’s rural project to increase agricultural production and productivity in the medium-term.  “The project approved today is the safety net component of the Bank’s three-pronged response: it seeks to provide support to vulnerable groups who are particularly affected by the crisis in addition to supporting the Government’s disaster response program” explained Philippe Auffret, Team leader for this project with the Bank Country Office in Madagascar.