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World Bank official praises economic reforms in Armenia

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  • World Bank official praises economic reforms in Armenia

    World Bank official praises economic reforms in Armenia

    Arminfo
    29 Oct 04

    YEREVAN

    Armenia is one of the best users of World Bank loans in the world,
    which are being allocated on the IDA (International Development
    Association) conditions, the regional director of the World Bank,
    Donna Dowsett-Coirolo, said at a press conference in Yerevan today.

    She said that a group of World Bank experts had recently come to this
    conclusion, evaluating the influence of the bank's credit programmes
    on the country's economy in the last 10 years. She added that economic
    reforms in Armenia are proceeding better than in neighbouring Georgia
    and Azerbaijan, though high economic growth is recorded in all the
    South Caucasus countries this year.

    The regional director noted that the economic situation in Georgia
    would improve after the tough measures to fight corruption carried out
    by President Mikheil Saakashvili, and after the construction of the
    pipelines [Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and Baku-Erzurum gas
    pipeline] in Azerbaijan. At the same time, she believes that Armenia
    should also take tough measures to fight corruption like Georgia,
    though the situation is much better here.

    Donna Dowsett-Coirolo noted that in the current year six credit
    programmes worth 85m dollars had been submitted for approval to the
    board of directors, which is the proof of active cooperation between
    the World Bank and Armenia. Those are loans for the social, health
    and education spheres, pension reforms, reforms in the state sector
    and irrigation. The World Bank's participation in the Armenian
    government's programme to alleviate poverty, which is worth 20m
    dollars, will be considered by the board of directors in
    November. Apart from this, a new credit programme to the tune of about
    20m dollars for agriculture and another credit programme, worth the
    same amount, to restore Yerevan's water supply system are being
    prepared. Both programmes are planned to be submitted for approval to
    the World Bank board of directors next spring.

    Commenting on the problem of repaying Armenia's foreign debt, a bigger
    portion of which are World Bank loans, the regional director said that
    the country could guarantee its repayment, taking into consideration
    the economic growth and existing potential to attract domestic and
    foreign investment. Anyway, the issue of repaying Armenia's foreign
    debt does not cause concern compared to the situation in other
    countries, she said.

    To recap, 36 programmes of the World Bank worth a total of 820.8m
    dollars have been implemented in Armenia since 1992.
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