World Bank supports resource sharing, financial inclusion

THE World Bank aims to ensure equal resource sharing and financial inclusion in Papua New Guinea’s rural and urban areas through its Country Partnership Framework FY2019-22 strategy.
The international financial institution said the strategy aimed to support PNG ensure that the benefits of growth were shared broadly between those living in cities and in rural communities.
“Not only that, but benefits must be shared between men and women, and between those in the formal and informal economies,” it said in a statement in response to questions from The National.
“We will support projects aimed at improving macro-economic and fiscal resilience, more effective and inclusive service delivery particularly in underserved areas and enabling private sector growth and job creation particularly in the non-resource sector.”
The World Bank Group (WBG) will focus its resources on improving MSME (micro small medium enterprise) competitiveness and access to financial services.
It will also focus on improving competitiveness and productivity of agriculture and tourism and deepening the economic participation of women and youth.
The WBG including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) already has a number of ongoing programmes and projects that supports regulatory reform necessary for SMEs (small-to-medium enterprises) development and access to finance projects.
It said the MTDPIII (Medium Term Development Plan Three) placed an emphasis on increasing the number of SMEs to boost the participation of Papua New Guineans in the formal economy.
It is currently supporting this important objective through project and analytical support in agriculture (PNG Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project – PPAP) and SME access to finance.
It also supports the tourism sector development, infrastructure (energy and transport), and urban employment.