The World Bank’s decision to block a $90 million loan to Uganda in response to a sweeping anti-homosexuality law has helped slow passage of anti-LGBT laws in other countries, implied President Jim Yong Kim in an interview.

“Everyone knows now that I will do this and so everyone is watching very carefully,” said Kim. Kim confirmed that the loan, which was “delayed” last February, is officially dead and that “the Ugandans have withdrawn their request” for the funding.

Kim reflected on the loan while discussing a proposal for updated “safeguards” for human rights and the environment that are being drafted to guide the Bank’s lending. These include evaluating the impact on LGBT people, the first Bank policy to identify them as a vulnerable minority. Kim said that there was unanimous support from the Bank’s board that anti-LGBT discrimination was unacceptable during a discussion of his decision to block the loan to Uganda last year, even from countries that have their own laws against homosexuality. Read More