FILE PHOTO: A participant stands near a World Bank logo at the International Monetary Fund – World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia October 12, 2018. REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo
The World Bank Group has suspended publication of the Doing Business report after identifying major irregularities in it.
This was revealed during a meeting between Attorney General Aiyaz Saiyed Khaiyum and World Bank Executive Director Mohd Hassan Ahmad.
The AG had called the report fundamentally flawed and biased.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sayed-Khaiyum thanked the World Bank for the tremendous support provided during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said these included the large concessional budget support loans.
“Financing social welfare investment projects and pursuing other infrastructure projects,” he said.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum also highlighted the development priorities of the FijiFirst Government in the Northern Division and requested support from the World Bank in its Northern Tourism Development Project.
“This includes the development of a new international airport in Vanua Levu and other associated infrastructure to support tourism development in the North.”
Mr. Sayed-Khaiyum reiterated the need to invest in information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure to create redundancies to mitigate future risks and support the development of the growing ICT sector. business process outsourcing (BPO).
Discussions also focused on economic diversification, fiscal consolidations and the role of the private sector in driving post-pandemic economic recovery.
