São Paulo – The World Bank has approved an US$ 8 billion loan for Brazil to fight extreme poverty from July 2011 until June 2015. The funds should go to projects under the Brasil sem Miséria (Poverty-Free Brazil) federal government plan, launched this year to rescue 16 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty.
Out of the total figure, US$ 5.8 billion will be loaned by the World Bank to federal, state and municipality governments. The remained will be loaned by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private arm, to be used by the private initiative in 2012 and 2013.
According to the World Bank, the Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), as the initiative is known, should strengthen the fight against poverty in the Brazilian Northeast, País, where 59% of extremely poor Brazilians live. The project, however, is not limited to the states in this region.
According to the World Bank, four “strategic goals” must be reached by 2015 using these funds: improving quality and coverage of services for the low-income population, so as to take 85% of the 40% poorest to preschool; promoting regional economic and social development, including expanding sewer treatment from 70% to 75% of houses; improving natural resource management through reducing annual agricultural emissions by at least 100 million tonnes of carbon; and increasing the efficiency of public and private investment.
The World Bank’s director for Brazil, Makhtar Diop, stated that in the last decade, Brazil combined economic growth with stability and social progress by lifting “tens of millions of people from poverty.” He added that now, the goal is to push these efforts still further. “The new Partnership Strategy will help Brazil achieve this unprecedented milestone by supporting social and economic convergence through productive integration and growth,” said Diop in a statement issued by the Bank.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
