OREANDA-NEWS. September 11, 2009. The amount of funding that the World Bank provides to Belarus may be doubled to reach USD 200 million per annum, World Bank Permanent Representative in Belarus Ivan Velev told a press conference on 11 September.

Ivan Velev remarked that the increase in the annual funding channeled into developing the Belarusian economy by the World Bank is stipulated within the framework of the intermediate revision of the existing strategy of Belarus-World Bank cooperation in 2008-2011. The revision is supposed to take place in October-November 2009.

This autumn at the latest the World Bank Board of Directors plans to consider giving a development loan of about USD 200 million to Belarus. “We believe it is an approximate figure that we will work with. It is unlikely it will be increased,” remarked Ivan Velev. “If the credit goes successfully, with the revision of the existing strategy we have additional funds that we are ready to provide to Belarus”.

Ivan Velev remarked that the strategy for cooperation between the World Bank and Belarus provides for supporting the macroeconomic stability in the country, the programme for economic liberalization, development of the private business as part of the economy, and social protection of individuals. According to the World Bank Representative, it is the first loan of the kind that is issued to Belarusian banks. “It is the first practice for us. We would like to see how it goes in real. Later on if everything is all right, we will support efforts of the Belarusian government at the same level,” he said.

The allocation of the development loan to Belarus is directly related to results of the work of the IMF mission in the country, added Ivan Velev.