“The World Bank Group is closely monitoring the situation in Guinea-Bissau,” said an official source in response to questions from Lusa, confirming that disbursements and projects have been suspended in this Portuguese-speaking country.
“In accordance with Bank policy, we have paused disbursements on all ongoing operations in the country until the relevant criteria under Operational Policy (OP) 7.30 are satisfactorily met,” he added, stressing that “as a development partner, the World Bank Group remains committed to supporting the people of Guinea-Bissau.”
At issue is the coup d’état in the country at the end of November last year, on the eve of the announcement of the results of the country’s presidential elections.
OP7.30 is a manual on how the World Bank Group should act in the event of coups d’état when it has to deal with “de facto governments” that are not constitutionally legitimate in countries where the largest multilateral financing institution operates.
Among the projects underway in the country, the World Bank has an emergency response project, several in the area of improving connectivity, strengthening public administration and significant funding for the population census, scheduled to begin later this month.
The news of the suspension of projects and payments comes at a time when the military in power in Guinea-Bissau has approved a new constitution for the country, in which the country’s president becomes the “sole leader”.
The National Transitional Council, which assumes parliamentary functions, approved the new Magna Carta (i.e. constitution) on Tuesday, 30 years after the approval of the Constitution that imposed a semi-presidential regime in Guinea-Bissau. The revision of the Constitution comes less than two months after the military took power on 26 November 2025.
The opposition had claimed victory over the outgoing President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who was running for a second term of office.
Embaló left the country, while the candidate who declared himself the winner, Fernando Dias, took refuge in the Nigerian Embassy in Bissau, and the main opposition leader, Domingos Simões Pereira, was arrested after supporting Dias, following a court ruling that prevented Simões Pereira and the historic PAIGC party from running in the elections for the first time.
A so-called Military High Command took power and appointed General Horta Inta-a as the interim president of the country. The military suspended the Constitution and replaced the parliament, which had been dissolved two years earlier, with a National Transitional Council, with the stated aim of bringing about a political transition over a period of one year.
The seizure of power was justified by an alleged coup d’état that was being prepared to halt the electoral process, which was ultimately interrupted by the destruction of the minutes and material of the National Electoral Commission.
Guinea-Bissau has been suspended from the main international organisations of which it was a member, with the requirement to return to democratic normality and release political prisoners in order to regain its seat in bodies such as ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States), CPLP (the Community of Portuguese Language Countries) and the African Union.
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