WB plans to provide additional $20mln to Armenia

YEREVAN, April 18. /ARKA/. The World Bank is planning to increase
525mln dollars worth funds provided to Armenia by another 20mln
dollars, Head of WB Office in Armenia Aristomene Varoudakis said at his
meeting with Armenian Premier Tigran Sargsyan Friday.

The additional funds are to be used under the draft strategy of
assistance to Armenia, Varoudakis said as quoted by the Press Service
of Armenian Government.

If agreed upon, the draft strategy will be submitted for consideration
of WB Directors Board in early June, he said adding that the document
was compiled in a short period of time and has been already discussed
in Armenian Ministry of Finance.

He stressed the importance of the strategy directions’ being in line
with the government programs and focusing on solutions to social
problems.

Armenian Premier, in his turn, said that the country’s ministers of
finance and economy have already provided positive conclusions on the
draft strategy and today the main objective is to approve the document
and start implementation the soonest possible to ensure efficiency of
the government anti-crisis measures.

Sargsyan expressed satisfaction with the country’s cooperation with the
WB. The 50mln dollars worth WB-financed program for small and medium
businesses shows considerable progress, he said.

He expressed confidence that other Armenia-WB cooperation programs
will have similar results.

Varoudakis and Head of Country Assistance Strategy program Samya Mitra
expressed readiness to cooperation also with donor countries and
international organizations willing to extend loans to Armenia. N.V.
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