BANJUL, November 20, 2017 – During a joint Country Portfolio Performances Review (CPPR) today the Government of The Gambia and the World Bank reviewed the implementation progress of the projects supported by the World Bank and discussed emerging issues affecting the portfolio performance.
The meeting highlighted that The Gambia portfolio is performing well with a disbursement ratio of 56.3 percent in September 2017. However, despite these good news, it still faces some constraints that may slow down portfolio performance if not addressed promptly. To that end, the CPPR meeting identified critical challenges, ways to solve them, as well as agreed on the implementations steps moving forward.
“The outcome of this CPPR will serve as a guiding tool to ensure smooth implementation, while reducing the level of challenges faced by the projects going forward,” said Mr. Abdoulie Jallow, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs.
Looking forward, the workshop participants agreed on several practical next steps, such as to proactively utilize the upcoming Medium Term Reviews to ensure turnaround of the projects facing certain implementation issues, and to establish an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism to monitor the portfolio implementation. A report summarizing the main findings and presenting an action plan for the next year will be produced and shared with stakeholders.
“Good performance of the portfolio could only be ensured through a consultative process with the project implementers to identify the constraints faced and seek proposals for possible solutions and ways of addressing these constraints,” said Elene Imnadze, World Bank Country Representative in the Gambia.
The Gambia active portfolio is composed of six national IDA projects amounting $141.24 million out of which five are investment projects and one budget support operation. In addition, Trust Fund totaling $23 million support implementation of the national projects as well as three regional projects in amount of $51.48 million, including energy sector support through the OMVG interconnection project.
The CPPR meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Abdoulie Jallow, Permanent Secretary and Mr. Ansumana Touray, Deputy Permanent Secretary, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, and Mrs. Elene Imnadze, World Bank Country Representative in The Gambia. Key representative from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the sector ministries, project implementation units’ staff, and members of the World Bank Gambia Country Team participated in the CPPR.
