World Bank provides $100m to address Sudan food insecurity

The World Bank will provide the World Food Program (WFP) with $100 million to address food insecurity in Sudan, the WFP said on Wednesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The humanitarian organisation said in a statement that the funds will be used to provide food and cash transfers for over two million people across the country.

“The WFP in Sudan has received a contribution of $100 million from the World Bank to implement its newly launched Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project. This project aims to provide cash transfers and food to more than two million people across Sudan, including internally displaced people and residents,” it said.

This is the first-ever direct contribution from the World Bank to WFP in Sudan. This allocation was provided by the World Bank-managed Sudan Transition and Recovery Support Trust Fund (STARS), supported by the European Union, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Norway, Canada, Italy, Finland, Spain, Ireland, and the World Bank-administered State and Peace-building Fund.

READ: World Food Program suspends food aid to South Sudan over insufficient funds

The WFP has warned that one-third of the Sudanese population is food insecure, calling on international donors to provide additional $266 to cover the increasing hunger gap in Sudan.

“Despite this contribution from the World Bank and STARS donors, WFP still requires at least an additional $266 million through the end of 2022 to reach over 10 million vulnerable people as planned at the outset of the year,” it said.

By September, up to 18 million people, or 40 per cent of the country’s population, could slip into hunger.

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other donors have suspended assistance to Sudan in the wake of last year’s military takeover amid a deep political crisis in the country.