&w=3840&q=100)
World Bank approves over $1 bn for infra projects in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon
The World Bank said on Wednesday it approved over $1 billion dollars for infrastructure and reconstruction projects in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
The biggest amount went to Iraq, where the World Bank approved $ 930 million to help improve the country's railway infrastructure, boost domestic trade, create jobs and diversify the economy.
The World Bank said the Iraq Railways Extension and Modernisation Project will improve services and increase freight capacity between the Umm Qasr Port on the Persian gulf in southern Iraq to the northern city of Mosul.
As Iraq shifts from reconstruction to development, enhanced trade and connectivity can stimulate growth, create jobs, and reduce oil dependency," said Jean-Christophe Carret, director of the World Bank's Middle East division.
The World Bank also approved for war-torn Syria a $ 146 million grant to help restore reliable, affordable electricity and support the country's economic recovery. It said the Syria Electricity Emergency Project will rehabilitate damaged transmission lines and transformer substations.
Last month Syria signed an agreement with a consortium of Qatari, Turkish and US companies for the development of a 5,000-megawatt energy project to revitalise much of its war-battered electricity grid.
For Lebanon, which is recovering from the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, the World Bank approved $ 250 million to support the most urgent repair and reconstruction of damaged critical public infrastructure and lifeline services.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
4 hours ago
- NDTV
World Bank Approves $426 Million For Bengaluru Water Security Project
Bengaluru: The World Bank has sanctioned USD 426 million for a new initiative to enhance water security for over four million residents in Bengaluru, officials said. Karnataka Water Security and Resilience Programme will also help Bengaluru mitigate flooding by reviving the city's 183 lakes, which act as natural sponges during heavy rainfall, said a press release. "This will also help communities through early warning systems and improved responses to extreme weather by strengthening the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre," said Kristoffer Welsien and Anup Karanth, the task team leaders for the programme. Auguste Tano Kouame, the World Bank's Country Director for India, said the programme will also help increase the revenues of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. "It will mobilise USD 5 million in private capital. This will improve efficiency, replace aging water pipes, and tap the private sector to create innovative tools like smart water meters," Kouame was quoted as saying in the release. The programme will also ensure sewerage connections to over 1,00,000 households and facilitate the construction of nine Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) to prevent sewage from entering lakes and drains. According to the release, treated wastewater will be reused for industrial purposes and for recharging groundwater in the Greater Bengaluru area. The USD 426 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a maturity period of 20 years, with a grace period of five years, it added.
The Hindu
4 hours ago
- The Hindu
Spain to try Malaga's Qatari ex-president for running of club
A Spanish court has sent Qatari royal Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani and three of his sons to trial for alleged offences committed during his management of former La Liga club Malaga, legal sources said on Wednesday. Ex-club president Al-Thani, a distant relative of Qatar's ruling family, and his children are accused of misappropriation, unfair administration and imposing abusive agreements, according to a Malaga court document dated Monday. They theoretically face prison terms if convicted for their running of the current second-division side from Andalusia that ended in relegation and financial implosion. ALSO READ: Rubiales update: Spain's High Court upholds conviction but no prison sentence for ex-football chief Al-Thani bought Malaga in 2010 and launched the modest club into a spending spree that acquired stars including Santi Cazorla and former Real Madrid and Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. The success was short-lived. After reaching the Champions League quarterfinals in 2013, Malaga went on to lose its stars and was relegated from La Liga in 2018 and fell to the third tier in 2023. The Covid-19 pandemic saw its finances sink into crisis, with the club placed under supervision by the Spanish tax authorities and presenting a collective redundancy plan. A court removed Al-Thani from his post as president in 2020 following a complaint submitted by a group of small club shareholders. Related Topics Malaga / La Liga
New Indian Express
4 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Solving India's poverty puzzle
Has poverty been nearly eradicated in India? Yes, if one goes by the findings of a World Bank brief on poverty and equity released in April. As per the report, the proportion of people in India living below the revised international poverty line of $3 per capita per day at 2021's purchasing power parity (PPP) has declined sharply from 27.1 percent in 2011-12 to 5.3 percent in 2022-23. If one uses the previous international poverty line of $2.15 per capita per day (2017 PPP) the proportion below the poverty line in India fell from 16.2 percent in 2011-12 to 2.3 percent in 2022- 23. This implies that over the period from 2011-12 to 2022-23, about 171 million people were lifted above the poverty line. If, on the other hand, one uses the international poverty line of $3.65, applicable for lower middle-income countries such as India, the proportion declined from 61.8 percent to 28.1 percent during the same period. The World Bank's findings are based on data from India's Household Consumer Expenditure Surveys of 2011-12 and 2022-23. Given that the methodology used for these two surveys was different, the World Bank has not clarified how these two sets of data were made comparable. The Indian government did not release the 2017-18 HCES due to data quality issues, although it followed the same methodology as the 2011-12 survey. In a recent article, former RBI Governor C Rangarajan and Mahendra Dev, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, argue that India's GDP growth primarily explains this decline in poverty. This is questionable considering the history of East Asian economies, which experienced a sharp decline in poverty levels only at high economic growth rates. China, for instance, reported a sharp decline in poverty levels only when GDP growth exceeded 10 percent between 1978 to 2010. India's average GDP growth rates have ranged between 3.8 percent and around 7 percent in the last 10 years, except for -5.38 percent in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.
