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The World Bank has announced the creation of a regional natural disaster fund for sub-Saharan African countries that are most prone to climate shocks. The initiative will have an initial amount of three billion dollars (around 2.7 billion euros) and aims to tackle natural disasters and increase these countries' resilience. Mozambique, a country that has been affected by cyclones, floods and droughts, is one of the fund's beneficiaries.
The World Bank's Vice-President for Eastern and Southern Africa, Victoria Kwakwa, announced the creation of the fund during a meeting with Mozambique's Minister of Economy and Finance. According to the statement released by the Ministry, the regional fund will be intended for countries that have suffered cyclical natural disasters over the past five years. In addition, the mechanism also provides for the creation of insurance against climate shocks, which will promote the resilience of the beneficiary countries.
The programme will be designed on the basis of an initiative already being implemented in Mozambique, and is expected to help countries in the region deal with the effects of climate change and prevent the natural disasters that have affected the population and economy of sub-Saharan Africa. The implementation of this financial instrument will be funded by resources provided by the State and will help increase the resilience of the beneficiary countries, including Mozambique, which has been hard hit by natural disasters in recent years.
