The World Bank has paid out US$5 million to support the general budget of the state of São Tomé and Príncipe, Prime Minister Jorge Bom Jesus announced on Saturday in São Tomé.
The prime minister, quoted by the STP-Press news agency, said that the transfer process was only completed at the end of December 2019, “as a result of the new agreement signed in October last year with the International Monetary Fund.”
Bom Jesus added that “we are also expecting to receive, in January, a pledge made in 2019 for US$7 million from the African Development Bank also in support of the General State Budget.”
The prime minister said he considered these funds “important to reverse the current macro-economic reality,” of the country, proposing to increase exports and decrease imports as a way to “create wealth because without economic growth there is no salvation for our self-sufficiency and development.”
Bom Jesus was speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony to celebrate the day of King Amador, an iconic character in the history of São Tomé and Príncipe.
Source: Macauhub