The World Bank approved a US$150 million loan (Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option) to the Dominican Republic to provide immediate financing in the event of a natural disaster or a public health emergency. The Cat DDO is a flexible loan with a final maturity of 19 years, including a 12-year grace period.
According to a recent World Bank and Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development study, the economic impact of disasters in the country was estimated to be an average of US$420 million per year over the period of 1961 to 2014. The Dominican Republic ranks 27 out of 171 countries in the 2016 United Nations World Risk Index that ranks countries risks of natural disasters.
“The most important lesson from our experience in disaster response across the world is to invest in prevention and preparedness to be able to respond speedily when disaster strikes,” said Tahseen Sayed, World Bank Director for the Caribbean. “This is the first operation of its kind in the Caribbean, and focuses on a series of reforms to strengthen the government’s capacity for disaster risk management, climate adaptation, and financial resilience”.
The policy reforms supported under the Cat DDO will:
Incorporate disasters and climate-related risks into fiscal and debt management;
Enforce zoning regulations, building codes and safety standards for public infrastructures, in particular for schools and health facilities;
Strengthen flood and drought risk reduction measures as part of a comprehensive water resource management national strategy;
and further build resilience of public investments by integrating disaster and climate-related risk analysis into government programs.
2 October 2017
