The World Bank has stated that it has spent over $4bn financing to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, Benin and 49 other countries. This was contained in a press statement released on Wednesday on the Bank’s website.
The World Bank listed 51 countries that had benefitted from the N4bn funding without Nigeria on the list. The press statement was titled ‘World Bank financing for COVID-19 vaccine rollout exceeds $4bn for 50 countries’.
A source at the World Bank, who spoke on why Nigeria was not included in the list of developing countries that had benefited from the over $4bn COVID-19 financing by the World Bank, said there were certain COVID-19 financing schemes going on in Nigeria, and as soon as such schemes were finalised, an announcement would be made.
He added that the funding was not a one-off thing and more countries would be included with time. The statement quoted the bank’s Managing Director, Operations, Axelvan Trotsenburg, as saying, “The World Bank is helping developing countries in every region of the world with vaccine purchase and rollout.