WB allocates $ 23 million from Youth Employment Project to help COVID-hit unemployed poor

Published On: May 5, 2022 06:12 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, May 5: The World Bank (WB) is funding USD 23 million to scale up direct support to the unemployed poor impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The multilateral lending institution has reallocated the aforementioned amount out of its support worth $ 120 million that it provided to the Youth Employment Transformation Initiative (YETI) project. The WB’s financial support is expected to provide temporary jobs to around 64,000 unemployed youth who lost their jobs due to the impacts of the pandemic. The amount will be mobilized through the Prime Minister Employment Program.

Faris Hadad-Zervos, the World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, said the reallocated fund of the project will provide temporary employment to many poor people who lost employment or could not find work during the pandemic. The WB has come up with an initiative to complement the YETI project’s ongoing efforts to improve employment services and labor market outcomes, especially for youth.

These funds were made available by activating the Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC) of the YETI project. CERCs allow funds to be reallocated from the existing projects to address emergency response needs, according to a press statement issued by the WB.