Ebola: W'Bank Proposes New Global Pandemic Emergency Facility

Ayo Arowolo, Nduka Nwosu, Ndubuisi Francis, Festus Akanbi andKunle Aderinokun inWashington DC, USA

The World Bank friday called for the creation of a new pandemic emergency facility that would rapidly respond to future Ebola outbreaks by delivering money to countries in crisis, following a “late, inadequate and slow” global response to the current outbreak.

This call came on the same day the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala cautioned the rest of the world against the stigmatisation of Africa over the EVD crisis.

Also at a meeting between the Business International Understanding (BCIU) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) in Washington DC, United States of America friday, Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that the federal government was targeting to grow the NSIA fund to at least $5 billion in the short term.

President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim who made the call for a new pandemic emergency facility for EVD during the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC, United States of America said he would develop the proposals for a financial instrument with the United Nations, the IMF and regional development banks.

Kim said even as the focus should now be intensely on doing everything possible to stop Ebola, planning must also begin for the next pandemic, which “could spread much more quickly, kill even more people and potentially devastate the global economy”.
Kim said: “The world has an IMF to coordinate and work with central banks and ministries to respond to financial crises. When it comes to health emergencies, however, our institutional toolbox is empty: There’s no such center of knowledge and skill for response and coordination."

He said the bank group’s financial teams had proposed several solutions, including the pandemic emergency facility.
The World Bank boss said: “The device would pre-package a response, establishing contingent funding agreements with donors and receipt mechanisms for possible recipients. So, when a global health emergency is declared, financial support would be readily available and flow quickly to support an immediate response."

Kim said the bank’s work on Ebola, including in the innovative use of crisis funding to disburse $105 million over nine days in emergency funding, had been informed by its focus over the past two years on climate change.
He told delegates that the World Bank Group was fully engaged in fighting the global threats posed by both Ebola and climate change.

Ebola: Okonjo-Iweala Warns against Stigmatisation of Africa…
The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who has just won the African Finance Minister of the Year award in recognition of her drive for Nigeria’s economic growth trajectory and increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country, used the occasion to warn against stigmatization of Africa over EVD.
Receiving the award from the CEO and Vice Chairman, Africa Investor, Mr. Hubert Danand, the minister said she was excited and humbled by the honour.

She noted that the African continent was making enormous progress, and admonished Africans, the international community and investors not to allow the gains to be reversed, particularly because of the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.

“Africa has made so much progress that there should be no reversal, no turning back. I know that if we believe in ourselves and we send out the message, the trend (growth) we have, can only be upward. We must not allow the problem of Ebola to set Africa back.
“At a meeting we held on Wednesday on ‘Financing for Development’, one of the things we discussed was for investors and the private sector to be active participants in the fight against Ebola.”

She said it was because Nigeria’s private sector came up with prompt support in terms of logistics, donations, and others areas as well as came in as one that contributed to the country’s success story in combating the dreaded disease.
“Therefore, I urge the international community not just to leave governments and multilateral institutions but also the private sector to come in and support in fighting the disease.

“The second point regarding the private sector and investors is that what is happening now in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and the success story of Nigeria and Senegal containing the disease must not be allowed to set Africa back.

“You as Africans and those of you who are friends of Africa should take the message out that people should not be afraid of Ebola. Don’t stigmatise. I think it is with your leadership as African investors that the rest of the world can see which way they can act. I am really urging you to be ambassadors of the continent,” the minister said.

She acknowledged that in the face of Africa’s positive growth and the current Ebola threat, the continent faces some other challenges, including the problem of governance, corruption, unemployment, and infrastructure deficit, among others.

Okonjo-Iweala: We’re Targeting $5bn Investment for NSIA…
The Federal Government is targeting to grow the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) fund to at least $5 billion in the short term.
NSIA, the managers of Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) kicked off with a seed capital of $1 billion, which has grown to over $1.5 billion currently.

Okonjo-Iweala, who disclosed this at a meeting between the Business International Understanding (BCIU) and NSIA in Washington DC, United States of America friday, said NSIA had been adjudged the second most transparent  in the world after its Norwegian counterpart by Fund Institute.

She said NSIA had done very well within the short period of existence, pointing out that the fund had become a potent investment vehicle in the country, particularly in infrastructure development, and therefore required all the support and partnership.

Addressing the BCIU audience, she said: “We are conscious of the bureaucratic processes and the issues of competitiveness in the economy, which we are also trying to deal with. We are aware of the challenges that confront us but they are also an opportunity to reposition the economy.

“It is against this background and context that we have an entity that we have created- the NSIA, which we see as a premier instrument to intermediate and help us channel some of the savings in this economy into very important investments. We have started small and everything has to start somewhere. And from the $1 billion base, we have given them another $0.55 billion to manage as assets.

“We are working as we speak, on permanent source of increasing the capital of this institution. The idea is not just to make it a $1.55 billion entity, we are working towards $5 billion to begin with and upwards and it will grow. From the results we are already seeing in its investments, they are taking some very good steps under the guidance of the chairman of the agency and the board.

“What we are excited about is the ability to co-invest. We've got a charter that allows them to invest in the economy unlike many other sovereign wealth funds that still use the old model of investing liquidity and capital outside.”

Corroborating the minister, the NSIA Managing Director, Mr. Uche Orji, who also briefed journalists on its activities, said investment had been made in areas such as infrastructure development and oil and gas, among others.

Orji said: “We have invested in Seven Energy, which is part of the gas-to-power fund. We invested $100 million in NSIA instrument with Seven Energy, alongside Seven Energy bond for the same instrument, but ours come with considerations. We invested in Seven Energy to complete a gas pipeline to deliver gas to Calabar NIPP and also to deliver gas production out of their gas facility to help deliver gas to power. That pipeline, when completed will help Calabar NIPP get started. It is already at 650MW capacity.

“Number one update is that gas-to-power investment has started. There are two other things in our pipeline that, hopefully, we should complete by the end of this year also in enabling gas-to-power.”

Culled from: http://www.thisdaylive.com