The World Bank in The Gambia

Stretching 450 km along the Gambia river, the country is surrounded by Senegal, except for a 60-km Atlantic Ocean front. The country is one of the smallest in Africa, covering about 10.7 thousand square kilometers and 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. Subsequent 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 

Economic growth in 2022 reached 4.3%, driving improved agriculture production due to a relatively good rainy season, increased government consumption, and high infrastructure spending driven by the preparation for the Organization for the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conference. Real GDP growth was unchanged from 2021 after the economy rebounded from the COVID-19 shock. Lower remittances and high inflation dragged down private sector demand. Despite positive GDP growth, rising food prices undermine the pace of poverty reduction. Poverty is expected to have increased to 20.3% in 2022 from 18.4% in 2021, using the international poverty line of $2.15 (in 2017 PPPs)^[1]. The sharp increase in poverty is largely due to weaker growth in per capita GDP, and high prices eroding the purchasing power of households. These estimates are based on a new tool which now accounts for the distributional impact of rising food prices. GDP growth is projected to 5% in 2023, driven by tourism and private demand recovery as well as resilient public demand.

Yearly inflation averaged 11.6% in 2022 from 7.4% in 2021, reaching double digits for the first time in almost three decades. Food and nonfood inflation were high, averaging 14.5% and 8.6%, respectively, mainly driven by global commodity market shocks, local currency depreciation, increased salaries of civil servants, and persistent structural issues at the port of Banjul.

The fiscal deficit widened to 4.8% of GDP in 2022 (a primary deficit of 2.9% of GDP) from 4.6% of GDP in 2021), as the spillover effects of the war in Ukraine drove down domestic revenue, along with increased public spending. Tax revenues as a percent of GDP declined, driven by lower taxes on goods and services and international trade and increased subsidies for fuel, fertilizer, and grains to address higher import prices induced. Public debt to GDP remained unchanged at 83.9% of GDP in 2022 from 83.8% in 2021. The risk of overall and external debt distress remains high as per the joint WB/IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) completed in November 2022 and the preliminary findings of the ongoing DSA (started in February 2023).

Last Updated: Mar 10, 2023

The Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for the period of 2022-2026  is aligned with Gambia’s National Development Plan (NDP) and focuses 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 covers 3 priority areas: 

Strengthen Transparency, Accountability, and Effectiveness in Governance to support the efforts to 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 to support the 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 to support the efforts to 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 is anchored on two cross-cutting principles: i) accelerate Cross-sectoral Digital Transformation; and ii) empower Women and Girls.

Last Updated: Mar 10, 2023

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 2022, bill collection rates have gone up from 89% in 2015 to 96% in 2022. An organizational restructuring has been completed with the creation of distinct business units (Water & Electricity). Service reliability for water remains intermittent, particularly across the Greater Banjul Area (GBA). 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; intervention boreholes; rehabilitation of water storage tanks; new network connections; treatment of non-revenue water (NRW); 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 Nafa Program was successfully scaled up in August 2022, to an additional 17 poor districts reaching an additional 14,190 households bringing the total number of beneficiary households to 17,036 households.  

The WBG is working with other development partners to support the National Social Protection Secretariat so that it becomes an effective, coordination unit for social protection.  The social registry is to ensure that social programs of all sectors are targeted to beneficiaries in need. Data has been collected for the social registry in 36 of the 43 districts of the country.

Health 

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

-          performance-based financing of health facilities expanded nationally 

-          preparations underway for the rollout of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)

-          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 Education Sector Support Program (ESSP-P162890) was approved on March 28, 2018, and will be closing on June 30, 2023. 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. At the post-secondary level, The Gambia is a part of the regional Africa Centers for Excellence (ACE) Impact project which is transforming the Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI) into a STEM-focused center of excellence.

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), approved in November, 2021, and effective as of March 14, 2022, will promote the development of four key priority agricultural value chains: (i) rice (substituting for increasing imports); (ii) horticulture (vegetables and mangoes for urban centers and export); (iii) cashews (for domestic processing and export); and (iv) poultry (for urban centers), in conjunction with maize for feed.

A total of 240 metric tons of improved varieties of certified seeds of rice and maize (high-yielding, early-maturing, drought-resistant, salt-tolerant, and aromatic) were distributed to over 11,500 farmers (60% women and 35% youth 18-35 years old) with positive impact on agricultural production, productivity, and food security.

Z digital mobile application was developed to ensure a rapid, transparent, targeted, and efficient seed distribution. An additional funding of $15 million is under preparation in response to the induced effects of Ukraine - Russia crisis on fertilizer price rising unprecedently from $230 to $800 (GMD14,000 to 50,000) per ton in Gambia between 2021 and 2022 - a 257% increase. This will be combined with an additional funding of $25 million to improve access to water for drinking and irrigation to further reinforce resilience to climate change.

Last Updated: Mar 10, 2023

Partnerships and Donor coordination  

The World Bank Gambia Country team works closely with Development Partners in the country and is a member of the Development Partners’ Group (DPG).  The DPG has six Thematic Working Groups based on The Gambia’s development needs and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On the economic front, the World Bank Group and the IMF have coordinated closely with the G20 and the Government on the country’s response to the macroeconomic shocks of the pandemic and the spillover impacts of the Ukraine war, 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 Union and the European Investment Bank. In the health sector, it consults closely with UNOPS, the Global Fund, WHO, 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 in social protection, together with UNICEF, WFP, and the European Union. 

Last Updated: Mar 10, 2023