São Tomé-and-Príncipe - ISP for Customs Administration and Public Expenditure Management (ISP-CAPEM)

The operation is an Institutional Support Project for Customs Administration and Public Expenditure Management (ISP-CAPEM) from the Bank in the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe (STP). It is designed to leverage the Bank’s comparative advantage in supporting economic governance reforms as well as synergies with its other instruments and areas of intervention. As an African institution with a longstanding history of providing advice the Bank is well placed to support the Government’s program of economic governance reforms. Moreover, the Bank will leverage its extensive experience supporting the implementation of economic governance reforms across Africa and in STP, where the Bank has been supporting implementation of various projects including the Institutional Support Project for Economic and Financial Management (Programa de Apoio à Gestão Económica e Financeira, PAGEF) (2013-2020) and the COVID-19 budget support operation in 2020. The project comprises three main components: (a) customs administration modernization and sustainable public debt management; (b) strengthening public expenditure management; and (c) Project management. The project is designed in parallel to help achieve the objectives of the new National Development Plan (NDP). The project contributes to climate finance, with 1 million USD of the total approved amount dedicated to adaptation.