Country Program Evaluation: The Bahamas (2001-2008)

This Country Program Evaluation covers two Bank strategies that spanned from 2001 to 2008. The Bahamas has the highest per capita income of any borrowing member of the Bank. The country's social indicators are not, however, commensurate with its level of income and the pattern of social and economic development varies substantially across the islands. Between 2001 and 2008, the Bank approved two Country Strategies (CSs). During the first strategy, CS 2001-2002, only one loan was approved. CS 2003-2007 was informed by the recommendations of the previous CPE. Although the development objectives of this strategy mirrored those of CS 2001, it differed in several important ways. First, it shifted the Bank's strategic focus away from infrastructure expansion, towards pressing challenges in health, education, youth, poverty, and environmental management. Second, it emphasized "smaller projects with high technical assistance content." Third, it was believed that the concentration on smaller projects would allow the Bank to address a wider range of development challenges than it had in the past, another CPE recommendation, "while remaining within the constraints of the capital program."