YEREVAN, February 1. / ARKA /. Before the end of the current fiscal year (ending June 2013) Armenia will receive a $35 million loan from the World Bank to improve its health facilities and another $22 -$30 million loan for rehabilitation of irrigation systems, head of the Armenian office of the World Bank, Jean-Michel Happi, said today.
Mr. Happi said he could not provide details of these projects because they are being still elaborated. He was speaking to journalists at an event marking the 20 years of World Bank operation in Armenia.
The said also that World Bank’s New Armenia Strategy for 2014-2017 will come into force in the third fiscal quarter and will be the main document defining the directions of further cooperation with the government.
The current Country Partnership Strategy for Armenia, which comes to an end in mid-2013, has been developed in the aftermath of the global economic crisis of 2009. The World Bank has supported the government by envisaging total IDA/IBRD allocation of US$640.6 million with IDA share equaling to US$277 million.
On top of the lending operations the Bank has 16 active trust fund operations totaling to about $15 million, as well as providing sector diagnoses and strategies that underpin the Bank’s dialogue and possible interventions.
Currently, there are 14 active projects financed by the Bank. Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, the commitments to Armenia total approximately US$1.669.6 billion. -0-
