Lao PDR: Improved Access to Disaster Risk Financing (WB-P505224)

Countries
  • Laos
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • World Bank (WB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Mar 17, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of Laos - Ministry of Finance
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
  • Law and Government
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Grant
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 3.60 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 3.60 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ WB website

Updated in EWS Mar 9, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Jun 23, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the objective of this project is to strengthen Lao PDR’s financial resilience to disasters and climate shocks through improved access to pre-arranged risk financing mechanisms.

The operation will comprise a single component to support Lao PDR make a premium payment for pre-arranged risk coverage from the SEADRIF Insurance Company. Sub-component 1.1: Payment of Disaster Risk Insurance Premium Of the total grant amount of US$3.6 million to the government of Lao PDR, US$3.4 million will be used by the government to pay insurance premium to/through SEADRIF insurance company for an insurance policy and service in return. This is a one-time transaction where all the premium will be paid in one tranche. In case of the insurance payout is made, the funds will be eligible to finance repair or rehabilitation of public assets damaged or destroyed by disasters, but not (re)building. The insurance payout can also be used for non-infrastructure expenses as provided in the contingency plan approved by the World Bank. Sub-component 1.2: Support for management of E&S risks The remaining grant amount of US$200,000 will be utilized to assist the recipient manage the environmental and social risks for activities funded from the proceeds of a payout, as and when such a payout is made.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

Environmental and Social risk of activities to be supported under the insurance payouts are expected to be Moderate or Low. The new infrastructure subprojects will not be eligible for project financing, but the insurance payout can be used for non-infrastructure expenses such as social protection payouts, school feeding or the purchase of medical supplies and equipment. The exclusion list together with risk classification guideline provided in the SEADRIF’s ESMS will be used to screen out any proposed new infrastructure subproject or activity with High or Substantial E&S risk. The new infrastructure or subprojects with High or Substantial risk will be excluded.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Trust Funds:

- Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) Pr: US$ 0.60 million

- Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery: US$ 3.00 million


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

World Bank

Smita Wagh
Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Vidaovanh Phounvixay
Vidaovanh Phounvixay

Borrower/Recipient

Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR)

Implementing Agency

Ministry of Finance
Phaitoun Thienglamay
Director General
Pt.thienglamay@gmail.com

Somxay Keovandy
Director of Division
somxay.keovandy@gmail.com

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

To submit an information request for project information, you will have to create an account to access the Access to Information request form. You can learn more about this process at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/access-to-information/request-submission

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE WORLD BANK

The World Bank Inspection Panel is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by a World Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Inspection Panel, they may investigate to assess whether the World Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can contact the Inspection Panel or submit a complaint by emailing ipanel@worldbank.org. Information on how to file a complaint and a complaint request form are available at: https://www.inspectionpanel.org/how-to-file-complaint

How it works

How it works