The World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that have provided leveraged loans and monetary assistance to the Southeastern European country of Serbia with aim to contribute country's goal of integration into the European Union through the establishment of inclusive and competitive economy. [1]
Following its founding in 1944, the World Bank funded numerous essential projects in Serbia, from the Belgrade-Bar railway in 1964. ( $658 million equivalent), to the Ibar-Lepenac hydro system in 1986 and Kolubara A thermal power plant in 1991. [2]
The period under international economic sanctions (1992-1995), civil war, infrastructure-damaging NATO airstrikes in 1999 resulted in record-breaking hyperinflation [3] and fall of Serbian economy below the levels of 1990. [4]
After the expulsion of Federal Yugoslav President MILOSEVIC in September 2000, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition government executed stabilization measurements and initiated market reform program. Serbia rejoined the World Bank and renewed its membership in the International Monetary Fund in the December of 2000.
Between the years 2001 and 2008, the World Bank provided funds for 32 projects in Serbia with the combined cost of over $1 billion aimed to improve Serbia’s banking, education, energy, public finance, and social sectors. The WBG contributed to the privatization of several state and socially-owned companies, assisted in the modernization of frontier passages, reformation of the judiciary system, road reconstruction, addressed improvement environment, health, and employment services.
The current Serbia's World Bank Portfolio includes 13 projects in the areas of transport, real estate management/business environment, competitiveness and jobs, health, flood recovery and flood protection, disaster risk management, financial sector reform, public sector modernization (including the digitalization of selected public services and the modernization of tax administration), and early childhood education. [1]
With a total cost of $448 million, the Corridor X is the largest World bank project in Serbia, which commitment to the project is $60 million, while the rest is provided by IBRD. The purpose of the Corridor X Highway Project is to enhance the capability of traffic transit, increase safety on each part of three sections of corridor X. The highway lies between Nis and Dimitrovgrad and Leskovac (Grabovnica) and Donji Neradovac. [5] Corridor X includes both railroad and motor highway. It is a portion of the Pan-European network to expedite the connectivity with other parts of Serbia and other European countries. It is vital for Serbia’s competitiveness and allows conjunction with the center of Europe, Greece, and Asia. [6]
By the year 2020, the railway part of the corridor will allow trains to travel with a speed of 120–200 km/h. With the total length of 803 kilometers, Corridor X is the least line from Central Europe to Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East. [6]
With the total cost of US$12.17 million, the purpose of the Republic of Serbia Education Improvement Project is to assist the Serbian government in implementing practical education amelioration. [7]
The four segments of the project include:
As a part of the project, 1684 primary and secondary schools in Serbia was trained in developing school plans. The participation of local communities helped to distinguish problems and ways to address them. A conducted study showed that 80% of the participants were satisfied with the opportunity to undergo the training. As a result, the Serbian government implemented a law to make it imperative for all schools to prepare school development plans. [8]
The economy of Mauritius is a mixed developing economy based on agriculture, exports, financial services, and tourism. Since the 1980s, the government of Mauritius has sought to diversify the country's economy beyond its dependence on just agriculture, particularly sugar production.
The economy of Morocco is considered a relatively liberal economy, governed by the law of supply and demand. Since 1993, in line with many Western world changes, Morocco has followed a policy of privatisation. Morocco has become a major player in African economic affairs, and is the 5th largest African economy by GDP (PPP). The World Economic Forum placed Morocco as the most competitive economy in North Africa, in its African Competitiveness Report 2014–2015Archived 19 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
Kosovo is a developing country with an economy that functions on the principles of the free market, with a large private sector. Kosovo is an upper-middle income economy according to the World Bank, and is a member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Its official currency is the euro.
The economy of Algeria deals with Algeria's current and structural economic situation. Since independence in 1962, Algeria has launched major economic projects to build up a dense industrial base. However, despite these major achievements, the Algerian economy has gone through various stages of turbulence.
The Higher Education Quality Improvement Program (MECESUP) in Chile is part of the efforts of the Government of Chile to support the transition from its current economy to one based on knowledge, increasing the equity and the effectiveness of its tertiary education system.
The Budapest–Belgrade–Skopje–Athens railway, a China-CEE hallmark project (2014) of Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative, is a planned railroad international connection in Central and Southeast Europe – between Budapest (Hungary), Belgrade (Serbia), Skopje, Athens and its China-run port of Piraeus (Greece). Planned speed is up to 200 km/h (120 mph) depending on the sections: 160 km/h (99 mph) on the Hungarian section between Budapest and Serbia, 200 km/h (120 mph) between the Hungarian border and Belgrade and on most of the Belgrade-Niš section, while the current line between Thessaloniki and Athens is 200 km/h (120 mph) with upgrades to 160 km/h (99 mph) ongoing. The Chinese planners do not comment on the other tracks' realizable speeds. Originally, they spoke of up to 300 km/h (190 mph) throughout.
The World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that has provided leveraged loans and monetary assistance to the Central American country of Honduras in order to assist with the funding of critical tasks needed to ensure security of Honduran access to financing, expansion of social program coverage, and rural development. The country is the second poorest in Central America and its high poverty rate of 66% in 2016 has prompted an increased focus on the importance of diversification of rural income sources, quality education, and targeted social programs as a way of spurring economic growth.
Sri Lanka has been involved with the World Bank since its initial entrance into the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) on August 29, 1950. Currently, Sri Lanka's quota in the IBERT is approximately 515.4 million dollars, thus allotting 5,846 votes or 0.25% of the total votes in the institution. Sri Lanka later became a member of the other institutions in the world bank such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on July 20, 1956, with a current quota of 7.491 million dollars, allotting 8,311 votes or 0.32% of the total votes; the International Development Association (IDA) on June 27, 1961, with a current share of 98,100 votes or 0.36% within the institution; the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on November 11, 1967; and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) on May 27, 1988, with a current quota of 4.78 million SDR. Sri Lanka is currently in the India-led constituency for these organizations, representing the country as part of the South Asian block.
The World Bank Group country partnership framework aims to support Haiti's efforts to reduce poverty and provide economic opportunities for all Haitians. The framework aims to strengthen institutions, government capacity, and public financial management as aid and concessional financing rapidly decline.
Uzbekistan became a World Bank member in 1992, shortly after declaring independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The World Bank has supported projects in Uzbekistan in the areas of education, infrastructure, agriculture, and water resource management. Uzbekistan's collaboration with the bank has been increasing, with IBRD and IDA lending reaching a recent peak of $500 million in 2015. The World Bank has provided financing for 27 projects through the IBRD and IDA in throughout its relationship with Uzbekistan, with 15 active projects as of June 2017. Current IBRD and IDA projects total $1.9 billion.
Ukraine joined the World Bank in 1992, and over the 25 years since, the World Bank has committed $10 billion to over 70 projects in Ukraine. Ukraine is in a constituency with Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and the executive director of the constituency is Frank Heemskerk from the Netherlands.
The cooperation between the World Bank and India goes back to the foundation of the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) in 1944. As one of 44 countries, India prepared the agenda for the Bretton Woods Conference in June 1944. The Indian delegation was led by Sir Jeremy Raisman, who was a finance member of the Indian government and proposed the name "International Bank for Reconstruction and Development". India received its first bank loan of US$34million from the IBRD in November 1948 for railway rehabilitation. Since then, India has become the country with the largest country program and its lending portfolio of the World Bank group inheres of 104 operations with a total volume of $27.1 billion. Parameswaran Iyer is the present Executive Director of World Bank nominated by India.
Vietnam joined the World Bank Group (WBG) on 21 September 1956. Before the mid-1980s, Vietnam was one of the world's least developed countries. A series of economic and political reforms launched in 1986, known as Đổi Mới, caused Vietnam to experience rapid economic growth and development, becoming a lower middle-income country. The World Bank (WB) has maintained a development partnership with Vietnam since 1993. As of 25 March 2019, it has committed a total of US$24 billion in loans, credits, and grants to Vietnam through 165 operations and projects, 44 of which are active as of 2019 and comprise US$9 billion. With an estimated extreme poverty rate below 3% and a GDP growth rate of 7.1% in 2018, Vietnam's economy continues to show fundamental strength and is supported by robust domestic demand and export-oriented manufacturing.
Argentina has a longstanding relationship with the World Bank. Argentina has one of the biggest economies in Latin America and is rich in natural resources, which could play a large part in its future economic development.
After separating from the World Bank and other International Financial Institutions for decades due to pressure from the Soviet Union, Poland rejoined the World Bank on June 27, 1986. The World Bank was instrumental in financing and providing technical assistance for Poland as it transitioned from a Command Economy into a Market-Oriented Economy. As a middle income country, Poland has worked primarily with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development since it is not eligible for loans from the International Development Association. Additionally, Poland has had a few projects with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and the International Finance Corporation. Currently, most of Poland's engagements with the World Bank Group concern environmental concerns and public finances.
Jamaica first joined The World Bank Group (WBG) on 21 February 1963, when the island nation became a member of The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which lends to middle and low income nations. This occurred the same month as Jamaica joining the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and one year after declaring political independence. Since joining The World Bank, Jamaica has received in excess of $3 billion US Dollars in loans and grants. Jamaican Minister of Finance, Donald Sangster, led the Jamaican delegations to World Bank and International monetary Fund meetings between 1963 and 1966, while also serving as Governor of the World Bank and IMF. Sangster would go on to serve briefly as the Prime Minister of Jamaica.
Cambodia officially joined the IMF on December 31, 1969. After years of internal and external strife, the Cambodian government is currently focusing its attention to rebuilding and renovating the national economy through grants and loans from multilateral sources like the International Monetary Fund. Cambodia gained independence in 1953, which was the starting point of industrialization. Cambodia faced a downhill between 1975 till 1979, which damaged all the infrastructure and economy, economical and a tragic event — genocide which killed millions of innocent citizens and especially the loss of human resources, which caused the Cambodian economy to drop to the lowest point. The Cambodian economy started lively in 1993, hugely relying on the foreign market to export agricultural produce, especially rice. In March 1994, the International Committee for the Reconstruction of Cambodia (ICORC) developed a comprehensive plan in effort to support Washington Consensus policy prescriptions. These reforms aimed to shift the economy from a socialist state-controlled economy towards a capitalistic market-controlled one. Since then they've had a total of two arrangements addressing fiscal management. Directors approved a loan for SDR 28.0 million in support of Cambodia's 1995-96 macroeconomic and structural reformations. In 1997 domestic political uncertainty following an alleged coup d’état halted IMF disbursements but resumed again in 1998 after the formation of a new government. Since the 1990s there have been no active IMF loans, but Cambodian and IMF relations continue through Technical Assistant strategies and yearly Article IV reports.
The Republic of Zimbabwe is a landlocked country locked in the southern region of Africa. It shares borders with The Republic of South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, and Mozambique. Upon gaining independence in 1980, the new regime, sought to replace many of the institutions established by the previous white rule. Many of the new regime's actions, like land reform and involvement in The Democratic Republic of the Congo's civil war, have been the source of the state's economic failure.
The World Bank Group is a large international financial institution that continuously provides loans and grants in order to fund capital projects in poor and developing nations across the globe. Its main goal is to reduce poverty worldwide. It consists of five other large international financial banks within in, each providing funding for different types of projects. Belarus joined the World Bank back in 1992 and has since then received over $2.5 billion in lending commitments since then and in the form of grant financing, it has received $31 million, with much of this funding going towards programs that include civil society partners. Currently, Belarus's active portfolio within the World Bank has a total of $933 million, with it containing a total of nine different projects, as well as two more projects that are currently still in preparation in the areas of energy efficiency and higher education. The majority of this funding has been directed towards the themes of pollution management and environmental health, climate change, and rural services and infrastructures, with the majority of the funding going directly into the central government, other agencies and extractives, and forestry sectors of the country, as well as sustainable energy. In looking to have more economic growth, improving the private sector environment within Belarus could help.
Ireland joined the World Bank on August 8, 1957, and has continued to be a member since then. A majority of the money loaned to Ireland from the World Bank was put towards infrastructure projects, such as power and education. Ireland was able to pay back these loans in the predetermined time frames with little to no issue.
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