Chairman of Council of Ministers Talks with World Bank Head of Mission

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr. Nikola Špirić received Head of World Bank Mission Marko Matovaneli. 

The meeting discussed the ways of maintaining macroeconomic stability, mitigation of impact of the global crisis, and acceleration of implementation of already approved projects.

It was concluded that the conditions were met for the Development Policy Loan (DPL Programme) worth USD 111 million, which will be submitted to the World Bank Board for approval, this week.

Chairman Špirić stressed that there must not be any distortion of the agreed policies, in order to stabilise Entity budgets and create conditions for a more just allocation of social benefits in the country.

The interlocutors highlighted the importance of shortening deadlines for ratification procedures for financial treaties. It was said that stepping –up the implementation of already approved projects financed by World Bank and other development partners is of the utmost importance in time of global economic crisis.

The Chairman invited all competent institutions in ratification decision-making processes to give priority to financial agreements and address them within the shortest deadline possible.

Špirić informed Mantovaneli that the Council of Ministers has included the Proposal Decision on Ratification of the Loan Agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for the Enhancing SMEs Access to Finance Project, in its tomorrow’s session agenda.

He meeting also discussed the current improvement of the World Bank portfolio in B-H. It was assessed that this year’s rate of placement was the best in SEE region and among the best in Europe and Central Asia region. The interlocutors said that this represents a considerable move forward in view of the current global economic crisis and that such trend should be continued.

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