The World Bank in The Gambia

The Gambia is a small, fragile country in West Africa. Stretching 450 km along the Gambia River, the country (10,689 square kilometers) is surrounded by Senegal, except for a 60-km Atlantic Ocean front. The country has a population of 2.5 million. With 176 people per square kilometer, it is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. Most of the population (57%) is concentrated around urban and peri-urban centers. 

Political Context 

The Gambia is a multiparty republic. Under the 1997 constitution, the President is the head of state and government, and is elected by universal suffrage to a five-year term. The 2016 Presidential Election led to the end of the autocratic rule of former President Yahya Jammeh, who was in power from 1994 to 2017.

In 2018 the government established the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to lay the ground for reconciliation in the country, restore trust and overcome the trauma of human rights violations. The TRRC final was disclosed in December 2021, with the government expected to present a white paper recommendation to the National Assembly within six months.

The recent presidential elections took place on December 4, 2021. The incumbent President Adama Barrow was declared the winner by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) with 53.2 % of the vote and was inaugurated for a second term on January 19, 2022. 

Economic Overview 

Growth was robust at 6.2 % in 2019, supported by improving confidence and record tourist arrivals, with sound macroeconomic management helping to reduce the fiscal deficit, exit from debt distress, and increased international reserves closer to prudential levels. 

The COVID-19 crisis resulted in a deceleration of growth to 0.6 % in 2020 (a contraction of income per capita by 2.3 %), reversing gains in poverty reduction. The economy, driven by strong activity in tourism and construction, which boosted services and industry, and favorable weather, which fostered agriculture, rebounded to 4.3 % (1.3% in per capita terms) in 2021.  As a result of economic recovery, the share of Gambians living below the international poverty line of $2.15 (in 2017 PPPs) declined from 11.7 percent in 2020 to 11.1 percent in 2021, equivalent to more than 8,000 people lifted out of extreme poverty. The fiscal deficit more than doubled in 2021 to 4.6 percent of GDP (a primary deficit of 1.6 percent of GDP) from 2.2 percent of GDP in 2020 by lower grant financing as development partners unwound the financial support provided in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public debt to GDP maintained its downward trend, estimated at 83.8 percent of GDP in 2021—2.1 percentage points below its 2020 level. Still, the risk of overall and external debt distress remains high as per the latest joint WB/IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis (June 2022). The average inflation reached 7.4 percent in 2021 driven by food inflation, up from 5.9 percent in 2020, and above the Central Bank’s medium target of 5 percent.

The Gambian’s economy is set to decelerate in 2022 due to high commodity and fertilizer prices, and supply disruptions due to the war in Ukraine, and ongoing floods. Inflation reached 12.3 percent (year-on-year) in July 2022 – its highest level in the last three decades.

Last Updated: Sep 22, 2022

The new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for the period of 2022-2026 supports Gambia’s development priorities. The CPF is aligned with Gambia’s National Development Plan (NDP).

The new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for the period of 2022-2026 supports Gambia’s development priorities. The CPF is aligned with Gambia’s National Development Plan (NDP) and will focus on accelerating the country’s transition out of fragility and on supporting the Government’s vision of sustainable, resilient, and inclusive growth. Building on past and ongoing assistance, this partnership between the World Bank Group and the Gambia will focus on 3 priority areas:

Strengthen Transparency, Accountability, and Effectiveness in Governance

The CPF will help the country improve the transparency, accountability, and effectiveness of the public administration and provide room in the government’s budget for productive investments in infrastructure and human capital.

Enable Inclusive and Resilient Private Sector Driven Job Creation

The World Bank Group will also support the government’s efforts to create an enabling business environment that fuels job creation by investing in infrastructure, strengthening the role of commercial agriculture, boosting the tourism sector, and increasing urban, coastal and climate resilience.

Enhancing Human Capital investments to Develop a Productive Workforce

Finally, this partnership will help improve the quality of and access to essential healthcare, expand social protection services, enhance the quality of education, and explore ways to improve skills and employability of women and youth.

The CPF will be anchored on supporting the government’s transition out of fragility and will support the transition to the Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) approach. The program will focus on two cross-cutting principles:

• accelerate cross-sectoral digital transformation; and
• empower women and girls.

The recovery of the Gambia’s economy will require tackling its underlying challenges to public service delivery; addressing the constraints that impede the development of its key economic sectors and investing in its most important asset: its people.

COVID-19 Response

As of August 25 2022, the country had recorded 12,370 cases with 371 deaths and a crude case-fatality ratio of 3.0 %. The government intends to vaccinate 70 % of the population (1.68 million people), but as of August 20, 2022, only 25.7 % of the national target population (12 years +) are fully vaccinated. The Gambia has received vaccines from the COVAX facility and from the African COVID-19 Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) (financed by the World Bank).   

In April 2020, the WBG approved a $10 million COVID-19 Health Preparedness and Response Project (P173798) to strengthen the capacity of the national health system to prevent, detect, and treat COVID-19. Additional financing of $0.94 million from the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) was approved in January 2021. Additional Financing of $20 million to the COVID-19 Vaccine Preparedness and Response Project is supporting the procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. 

Last Updated: Sep 22, 2022

Energy and Water

The combined national and regional energy projects under supervision are over $250 million. The Gambia Electricity Restoration and Modernization Project (GERMP, P163568) was approved for $43 million in May 2018 with additional financing of $41 million approved in 2020.  Complementary regional projects include the OMVG Regional Interconnection Project (with $47 million World Bank financing out of a $86 million allocation) and the ECOWAS Regional Access Project ($66 million allocation for The Gambia).

This portfolio has enabled much-improved operational and financial performance for National Water and Electric Company (NAWEC). Improvements include a reduction in transmission and distribution losses from 28% in 2015 to 19% in 2021. In urban areas and large provincial centers about 64,000 urban households are connected to NAWEC’s piped water systems. However, the service is intermittent with most areas in NAWEC’s coverage zone receiving inadequate supply. To address some of these issues, GERMP includes $11.5 million for the following activities: investments in enhanced water quality solutions at selected water treatment stations; rehabilitation of water storage tanks; new network connections; energy efficiency measures; and a pilot to reduce physical and commercial water losses.

Social Protection

The nascent Social Protection System was a critical element of the COVID-19 response. The $30 million Social Safety Net Project (P167260) was restructured in June 2020 and $10 million was re-allocated to support a broader program of short-term cash transfers (Nafa Quick) during the COVID-19 containment period, which benefited 78,422 households in 30 rural districts for 4 months. The regular Nafa Cash Transfers Program is successfully underway and has currently reached 14,000 households in 20 districts with beneficiaries selected from The Gambia Social Registry (GamSR) data.  The GamSR, which provides data on poor and non-poor households, has completed data collection for 36 out of 43 districts in The Gambia. 

Health

The Gambia Essential Health Services Strengthening Project supports the 2021-2025 National Health Strategic Plan implementation. In addition to the $80 million Project financing, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM) co-financing (US$ 5 million) agreement was signed on December 23, 2021. The following key activities have been initiated:

• performance-based contracting of health facilities expanded nationally
• preparations underway for the rollout of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Act
• construction of the National Emergency Treatment Centre Intensive Care Unit, the Emergency Observation and Treatment Centre, the Public Health Laboratory and Training Centre at Farato, the Blood Transfusion Centre, and Conference Centre started in February 2022.

Education

The Gambia is seeking to mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education system, while continuing to move forward with its Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2018-2030.

The Gambia Education Sector Support Program was approved on March 28, 2018. It was followed by an additional financing approved on June 10, 2021. The objective of this operation is to increase access to early childhood development and basic education and improve the quality of teaching and learning. It is expected to benefit 411,000 school-aged children. 

Agriculture

The Gambia’s economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, contributing 17 % of GDP and 30–40 % of foreign exchange earnings from exports. The $40 million Gambia Inclusive and Resilient Agricultural Value Chains Development Project (P173070) was approved in November 2021. The objective is to promote four key priority agricultural value chains:

• rice (substituting for increasing imports)
• horticulture (vegetables and mangoes for urban centers and export)
• cashews (for domestic processing and export)
• poultry (for urban centers), in conjunction with maize for feed. 

Last Updated: Sep 22, 2022

Partnerships and Donor coordination 

In 2018, the Development Partners’ Group (DPG) revitalized its coordination efforts, particularly to support the Government in meeting NDP objectives. The DPG has six Thematic Working Groups based on The Gambia’s development needs and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since the beginning of the pandemic, a primary focus of the DPG has been to coordinate support for the Government’s response to COVID-19.

On the economic front, the WBG and IMF have coordinated closely with the G20 and the Government on the country’s response to the macroeconomic shocks of the pandemic, including on fiscal relief provided by the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).

In the energy sector, the World Bank is working together with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank.  In the health sector, the WBG consults closely with UNOPS, WHO and UNICEF and UNDP. In the education sector, the World Bank collaborates closely with the Global Partnership for Education and UNICEF. The World Bank is also a leading partner on social protection, together with UNICEF, UNDP, and the European Union.

Last Updated: Sep 22, 2022