The World Bank reported this week that it had expended over $4.75 billion in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region for the 2021 fiscal year, which concluded at the end of June.
Some $3.98 billion went to second world countries and $658 million was dispensed to the most destitute nations in the region in novel expenditures. An additional $114 million were earmarked for the Palestinian Authority. In addition to health systems strengthening, the bank also responded to requests for support for COVID-19 vaccines.
“The pandemic has put the region’s already strained resilience to the test and has taken a devastating toll on people across MENA. It has also heightened the urgency for decision-makers to undertake further reforms to address long-standing development challenges in their countries,” Ferid Belhaj, World Bank vice president for MENA, said in a statement.
In terms of COVID-19, the World Bank spent $34 million to provide coronavirus vaccines for citizens of and refugees in Lebanon. The organization dispersed $100 million to Tunisia, $63.5 million to Jordan, and $20 million to Yemen for vaccine doses.
The World Bank’s announcement comes as the coronavirus ravishes some countries in the region, which is seeing the even more rapid spread of the delta variant of the virus.