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World Bank Approves Another Anti-Crisis Loan To Armenia

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  • World Bank Approves Another Anti-Crisis Loan To Armenia

    WORLD BANK APPROVES ANOTHER ANTI-CRISIS LOAN TO ARMENIA

    Asbarez
    http://www.asbarez.com/2009/07/29/world-bank-appr oves-another-anti-%d1%81risis-loan-to-armenia/
    Jul y 30, 2009

    YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-In a further effort to mitigate the impact of the
    global recession, the World Bank allocated late Tuesday a new $30
    million loan to Armenia aimed at rehabilitating some of the country's
    battered irrigation networks.

    In a statement issued after a meeting in Washington of its Board of
    Executive Directors, the bank said the concessional loan, repayable
    in 27 years, will finance capital repairs on almost 84 kilometers
    of canals in the Armavir and Aragatsotn regions. It said the project
    will help bring irrigation back to about 7,300 hectares of land and
    benefit around 39,000 farmers.

    Armenia's Soviet-built networks of canals are already undergoing
    a large-scale reconstruction under a $168 million project financed
    by the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation. A lack of irrigation
    has been one of the most acute problems facing Armenian agriculture
    since the break-up of the Soviet Union and the ensuing degradation
    of rural infrastructure.

    The World Bank statement said the loan will also result in new jobs
    and thereby ease socioeconomic hardship in the unemployment-stricken
    areas. "Creating jobs and boosting incomes, particularly in rural
    areas where most of the poor live, is critical in the current crisis
    environment," Asad Alam, the bank's director for the South Caucasus,
    was quoted as saying. "What is important about this Project is that
    this is done in a way that will also help improve long-term growth
    and productivity in agriculture."

    The latest allocation raised to $200 million the total amount of
    anti-crisis loans to Armenia approved by the World Bank this year. They
    are due to be used for financing Armenia's widening budget deficit,
    supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, rebuilding rural roads
    and implementing reforms of the education sector.

    The World Bank pledged earlier this year to lend at least $670 million
    to the country in 2009-2012. The total amount of its loans allocated
    since 1992 exceeds $1.27 billion.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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