IDA’s Replenishment Meeting Taking place in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa June 18/2019 The 19th International Development Associations (IDA 19) replenishment meeting is taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from June 17-20, 2019. 

IDA partners meet every three years to replenish IDA funds and review IDA’s policies.

The gathering provides an opportunity to deepen the discussion on issues facing IDA countries and seeks partners’ guidance on policy and financing approaches to address them.

The IDA19 Replenishment cycle will culminate with a financing package for fiscal years 2021-2023.

Addressing the meeting, President Sahlework Zewde said the current budget support from IDA resources are being used "very effectively" to promote the productivity and efficiency of private sector cooperation.

With the support of IDA, Ethiopia has made significant progress in agricultural productivity, safety net programs, education in which primary school enrollment grew from 40 percent to 85 percent from 2000 to 2015, the President said.

Kristalina Georgieva, CEO of the World Bank told reporters that the meeting is taking place in Addis Ababa, due to the country’s performance.

"We are here in Ethiopia because this is a country that has demonstrated strong critical leadership and tremendous success in reforms and growth in the country," she said.

She admired the performance that the country registered in terms of economic growth, which is over 10 percent.

The CEO said "Ethiopia is determined to bring economic involvement of the private sectorso that there can be job for two million new entries in the labor market every year."

"The World Bank is proud to be a partner of Ethiopia, we currently have 13 billion USD program, which is one of the largest we have ever had and I can say the leadership of the prime minister and the ministry of finance make our investment in Ethiopia very successful," Georgieva stated.

She noted that they are aiming to have 80 billion USD for the coming three years, which shows a five billion increase from IDA18.

Some 75 billion USD was allocated for IDA18 that is invested in country programs and regional projects as well as in private sector, crisis response and refugee support.

"Taking lessons from IDA18, we aim to increase financing regional projects and keen to support the Horn of Africa to connect and to be a region of peace and not a region of conflict," she added.

Saying that IDA will continue with large programs that are performing well, she said “Ethiopia is one of the best performing countries and therefore it will be receiving a significant IDA allocation in IDA19".

IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world's 75 poorest countries bringing positive change to 1.5 billion people who live in IDA countries.

Since 1960, the association has supported development work in 113 countries and addressing global challenges such as climate related disasters focusing on the poorest countries of the world.