Mauritania - COVID-19 Support Programme in G5 Sahel Countries - Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad (PARC COVID-19 - G5 Sahel)

The proposed intervention concerns the Mauritania component of the COVID-19 Crisis Response Programme in the G5 Sahel Countries (PARC COVID-19 – G5 SAHEL). This is a loan and award a grant to the G5 Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad) of UA 118.9 million and UA 89.6 million respectively from the COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility. It will be implemented over 12 months from July 2020. The Programme was appraised in April 2020 following requests to the Bank by the countries. The low rate of COVID-19 infections declared in Mauritania until mid-May 2020 was apparently due to weak screening capacity. With the increased number of tests and opening of a toll-free number, the number of identified cases has greatly increased, and Mauritania reported 784 cases on 5 June 2020, against 8 cases on 13 May. The measures taken by the authorities to stop the spread of COVID-19 have greatly slowed down economic activity, notably in the services sector, which has translated into job losses. This Programme complements the other budget support operations, particularly the Multinational Coronavirus Pandemic Control Support Project for G5 member countries approved on 9 June 2020, aimed at providing the region with adequate operational capacities to combat the pandemic. More specifically, the programme will contribute to the financing of response plans through the budget support it will provide. It will also support measures aimed at improving the financial management of the response plans and mitigating the health, social and economic-related impacts.