World Bank managing director visits

A high-level delegation from the World Bank has just completed a one-day "listening tour" to Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, in order to gain "an insight on the main current issues" in that nation, a World Bank official told IRIN on Wednesday. The delegation was led by World Bank Managing Director Shengman Zhang and World Bank Director for Central Africa Robert Calderisi as part of an information-gathering tour that includes visits to Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. "I have never visited [this] country before, I would like to see for myself rather than hear about it from others. This is because there is not much documentation on the direct improvement of the situation in [CAR] and I would also like to speak with the government on how to better serve [the] country," Zhang told Radio Centrafrique upon his arrival in Bangui on Tuesday. "The government has done its work. We must find a way to assist it, complement it, of course, in various areas." Calderisi called the economic situation of CAR "dramatic", noting that the nation "still has difficulties in paying the salaries of state employees, there is unemployment throughout the country, all of which has an effect on morale and economic activity," Jeune Afrique quoted him as saying on Tuesday. "The uncertainty and the divisions at the heart of the population drain confidence." "Without an improvement of the political situation in the direction of national reconciliation, CAR will continue to suffer," Calderisi added. However, the necessary solutions are "in the hands of the authorities", he noted.