Washington DC, March 7, 2005
– The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, today signed agreements with John Keells Holdings to speed the delivery of relief supplies to tsunami victims in Sri Lanka, restore education and health facilities, and provide clean water to relief camps.
The agreements signed today, which total $172,000 (Rs. 17.1 million), are part of a $2.5 million matching grant program launched by IFC to match the costs incurred in post-tsunami relief work by selected partner companies in Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
John Keells Holdings (JKH) is one of Sri Lanka’s leading private companies, with substantial expertise in logistics and freight forwarding, which it has deployed to support the post-tsunami relief effort. IFC is matching $111,000 of JKH’s costs in handling relief supplies at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, and the Colombo port. This includes the receipt, management, storage, and delivery of relief cargo passing through the airport.
IFC is also matching $61,000 of JKH’s construction costs to repair schools and provide infrastructure for emergency field hospitals and clinics in tsunami-affected areas, and to provide water and sanitation for eight relief camps. JKH is also providing tools of the trade to enable small tradesmen to resume their livelihoods.
“In Sri Lanka, as elsewhere, the private sector has a special contribution to make to the relief effort following the tsunami. We are pleased to be able to support John Keells in the important work they are doing in managing the importation of relief supplies by air and sea, drawing on their capacity in logistics," said Iyad Malas, IFC’s director for South Asia.
The objective of the IFC Matching Grant Program is to enable companies to step up their participation in the relief effort. The program is targeted at alleviating infrastructure and distribution bottlenecks for relief operations and at providing emergency health services and clean water.
Numerous private companies in IFC’s portfolio are playing a vital role in emergency relief work in the affected countries. Using the assets, expertise, and people they have on the ground, they are contributing to the rapid delivery of relief supplies by providing telecommunications, logistics, health care, and other critical services. This complements the work of governments, NGOs, and international relief agencies.
IFC will also build on its small and medium enterprise (SME) development programs in the region to provide technical assistance to enable SMEs in the affected areas to rebuild their businesses and participate in reconstruction and economic recovery.
Promoting SME development in the emerging markets is part of IFC’s private sector development strategy in Asia and other regions. Through its various donor-supported project development facilities, IFC has successfully supported small businesses and helped private banks build up lending through sustainable methods that do not require subsidized government funding.
The mission of IFC (
www.ifc.org
) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY04, IFC has committed more than $44 billion of its own funds and arranged $23 billion in syndications for 3,143 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s worldwide committed portfolio as of FY04 was $17.9 billion for its own account and $5.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
