Investment in sanitation boosts economy, say India, Nigeria & World Bank |
Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention (MSIGC) session 1st October in Delhi on sanitation financing saw reports from top officials of India, Nigeria and World Bank endorsing the spend as it boosts economy in a big way. Niti Aayog India CEO Amitabh Kant, said for Swachh Bharat campaign India successfully leveraged budgetary allocations and other financing models such as micro-finance, private sector CSR spend and innovative strategies as sanitation credit to overall create a scenario in which instead of losing 6% of GDP due to lack of sanitation (per World Bank) the country would now add $ 700 billion to its economy. Staggering benefits include 1.5 million women brought into labor workforce that would help gender parity. Suleiman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources of Nigeria, said with a population of 190 million the country made slower progress early on in sanitation but great one in providing clean water. Focus on sanitation added $ 150 million per year to the economy. He professed using all kinds of financing including setting up a revolving fund to attack the menace caused by poor sanitation. World Bank's lead economist on water resources, Richard Damania, endorsed the views of countries that spent on sanitation saying countries must move in quickly to avoid massive health and economic disasters due to poor sanitation.
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