Harare — The World Bank said that it will stop making fresh loans to Uganda due to the nation's contentious anti-LGBTQ law, Al Jazeera reports. The Washington, DC-based lender announced on Tuesday that it would halt project financing while it reviewed the steps it took to safeguard sexual and gender minorities from prejudice and exclusion in its initiatives. "Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act fundamentally contradicts the World Bank Group's values," the lender said in a statement.

"We believe our vision to eradicate poverty on a livable planet can only succeed if it includes everyone irrespective of race, gender, or sexuality. This law undermines those efforts. Inclusion and non-discrimination sit at the heart of our work around the world." Additionally, the lender stated it will strengthen third-party oversight and complaint redress mechanisms "allowing us to take corrective action as necessary".

The World Bank Group said in May that it was "highly concerned" about the law's adoption since it did not align with the lender's ideals. As soon as he entered office in June, World Bank President Ajay Banga was under pressure from 170 civic organizations to take "specific, concrete, and timely actions," such as freezing further lending. Human rights organizations have extensively denounced the anti-LGBTQ law, which mandates a 20-year prison sentence for "promoting" homosexuality and the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," an offense that includes the transmission of HIV through gay sex.

As a result of the legislation, which President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda approved, the U.S. placed travel restrictions on Ugandan officials in June. Museveni, who has described homosexuality as a psychological condition, has dismissed criticism from other countries of the policy, which he has defended as necessary to prevent members of the LGBTQ community from trying to "recruit" people. In spite of its suspension of lending, the World Bank said in a statement on August 8, that it was still dedicated to helping Uganda.