Six loans approved by World Bank, worth 238.8m USD, wait to be ratified in Serbia's Parliament

The Head of the WB office in Belgrade, Simon Grey, said that six loan contracts of that bank, worth 238.3m USD, waited to be ratified in the Parliament of Serbia.

He said to the press that Serbia paid annual interest rate of 0.25% on that amount, although realization of the projects that obtained the loans had not started yet.

- Collection of interests starts after the loan contract is signed - Grey reminded.

He said that five projects signed in July 2007 were already in the Parliament and that they included: 43m USD for development of Bor, 21.5m USD for agricultural reform, 49.4m USD for irrigation and drainage, 50m USD for modernization of road network and 28m USD for energy efficiency.

According to his words, the sixth project for improvement of services at local level, worth 46.4m USD, was signed in March 2008 and it needs to be sent to the Parliament for ratification. Grey said that the World Bank would invest 600m USD in Serbia, about 150m USD per year, between year 2008 and 2011.