Panama getting $100 Million 

http://elsiglo.com.pa/economia/panama-tendra-acceso-100-millones-banco-mundial-para-reduccion-riesgo-desastres/24196328

“This loan represents a great advantage for Panama in advancing financial risk management,” said the Minister of Economy and Finance, Héctor Alexander

 In order to support the actions of the Government of Panama to manage the risk of disasters resulting from the occurrence of natural and health-related hazards, including the adverse effects of climate change and disease outbreaks, the Executive Board of the World Bank approved this Monday a loan for development policies with the option of deferred disbursement before Catastrophe Risk (DPL with Cat DDO).

The Cat DDO is a flexible loan with a final maturity of 19.5 years, including a grace period of 3 years and an average repayment term of 12 years.

“This loan represents a great advantage for Panama in advancing financial risk management, since our Government will have timely access to financial resources to provide an effective response, which contributes to fiscal stability in disaster situations,” said the minister of Economy and Finance, Héctor Alexander. 

“We are committed to developing strategies to manage fiscal risk in order to strengthen economic resilience and favor the most vulnerable population.”

This project is the second loan that supports Panama in development policies that promotes the strengthening of the disaster risk reduction agenda and stands out for including a new parameter that is related to “pandemic emergencies”.  

The first contingent loan was for US$66 million, approved by the World Bank’s executive board on October 18, 2011 and disbursed twice. The first, in 2016, with a withdrawal of US$25 million to mitigate the impacts of the drought caused by El Niño during the dry season. On this occasion, timely access to funds allowed the country to implement critical response activities, including an emergency plan for the drilling of water wells in the territories most affected by the drought.
Panama requested a final disbursement of US$41 millionon March 25, 2020, just 12 days after the National State of Emergency was declared due to the pandemic, with which an immediate injection of liquidity was achieved while additional resources were managed to serve the population affected by COVID-19.

“This financing mechanism has served other countries in the region, such as El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica, and will be very effective as part of the strategy for disaster risk management in Central America, especially in the post-COVID stage. -19,” said Michel Kerf, World Bank director for Central America and the Dominican Republic. 

“Our goal is to support the institutional capacity of countries to make it easier for them to address liquidity shortfalls during an emergency without the need to redirect resources already earmarked for social and development investments.”

In this process, in addition to strengthening its financial management capacity, it was reported that the Government of Panama has consolidated its public policy framework to prevent risk and improve its response to disasters, significantly strengthening its institutional capacity, through the approval of a series of preventive and reactive instruments. With this, it substantially improves its position towards prospective and inclusive disaster risk management.