Barbados Secures $30M World Bank Loan to Boost Disaster Response

• Barbados has secured a $30Mn loan from the World Bank to enhance its disaster risk management and ensure quicker, more effective responses in the face of emergencies. The Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Loan includes the Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat DDO), an innovative World Bank financing instrument that will provide a fast-access line of credit to support a timely and effective response once an emergency is declared.
• This project arrives at a critical time for Barbados, the World Bank noted. Despite its strong economic recovery, the country remains highly vulnerable to natural hazards. The Cat DDO will provide Barbados with a vital financial buffer, allowing the government to respond swiftly to emergencies without diverting resources from other priorities or compromising long-term development goals
• To access the Cat DDO, Barbados will implement a set of key reforms focused on two core areas: enhancing financial resilience and strengthening physical planning and livelihoods.
• This initiative complements the recently approved Barbados Beryl Emergency Response and Recovery Project, which supports the rehabilitation of the fisheries sector, Bridgetown Port, and critical infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Beryl.
• Barbados joins other Caribbean countries that are using Cat DDOs to build financial buffers and institutional capacity to handle increasing disaster risk, including St Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica, and Saint Lucia. Financial support for technical assistance for necessary policy reforms was and will continue to be provided by the European Union through the EU Resilient Caribbean Programme, managed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.

(Source: Barbados Today)