Guyana benefits from disaster risk assessment and preparedness sessions at World Bank/IMF annual meetings

DPI, GUYANA, Friday, October 20, 2017

Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, in providing a report to cabinet following his attendance at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which were held from October 11-15, 2017 in Washington D.C., said several issues of importance to Guyana were discussed, including the state of global growth and the need for innovation in generating new markets.

The meetings brought together ministers of finance, central bankers, representatives of private sector and civil society organisations, as well as academics. Special emphasis was placed on the recent human losses, displacement and economic shocks caused by natural disasters and the demonstrated effects of hard-earned economic and social gains being easily lost after a single catastrophic event.

The need to create instruments for disaster prevention and preparedness, and to ensure economic and social resilience when crises and disasters occur was highlighted.

In addition to the two plenary sessions of the organisations, Minister Jordan participated in a number of meetings, including a gathering of the Commonwealth Finance ministers, a seminar on debt sustainability and reform for low income countries, a roundtable discussion on the main challenges to overcome the impact of disasters and a forum for small states.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon speaking on the matter on Thursday said that “of particular importance to Guyana was the World Bank’s approach to natural disasters that included several instruments and toolkits… ensuring new buildings are located outside of flood zones and structures are designed to resist high winds and withstand storms and earthquakes.”

Forming part of the agenda were discussions on post-disaster needs assessment to deploy bank teams to support governments of affected countries, to assess scales of damage and the need for recovery, continuous emergency response component to allow for immediate allocation of funds in the aftermath of disasters and emergency operations to establish an accelerated process for the consideration of emergency projects that enables delivery of resources within 6-12 weeks.

A number of bilateral engagements were also held on the margins of the annual meetings. Generating employment and overcoming economic stagnation were also areas of discussions from which Guyana benefited.

 

By: Stacy Carmichael