The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has earmarked nearly $200 million in grants and loans for development projects worldwide. The funds will be used to buoy up a range of development projects meant to improve living conditions in more than 12 countries, which include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Lesotho, the Maldives, El Salvador, Uganda, Nicaragua, Morocco, Yemen, and Armenia. The fund will be handing over at least $5.7 million in loans and $15 million in grants to West and Central Africa, with Gabon receiving funding for its agricultural arm, and Guinea accepting support for the improvement of local governance and the facilitation of its rehabilitation projects. The IFAD is currently backing almost 200 rural poverty eradication programs worth $6 billion, which hopes to help more than 80 million of the world’s most impoverished people.
Source: UN to give $200 mn for development initiatives (The Economic Times)