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World Bank hinders Southern Sudan’s reconstruction

12 April 2010

Officials and development groups have criticised the failure of the World Bank and developed countries to deliver financial aid promised to Southern Sudan. Of $2 billion pledged in 2005, only $500 million has been disbursed. The director of the regional planning ministry appealed to the donor countries, stating, “We are very frustrated. We feel we are trying to build a country from scratch, but we are being kept at square one.” He argues that the development process has been undermined by the complexity of rules imposed by the Bank which stem from a fundamental lack of understanding of the local context.