World Bank Group

A project to modernize irrigation in Turkey will be implemented with $254 million in financing from the World Bank.

Greece has requested an unknown amount of "financial assistance" from the World Bank even as bailout talks continue amid government officials and representatives of the country's international creditors, according to a report in Politico.

Greek real estate company Grivalia Properties has arranged a 50 million euro ($53.41 million) credit facility with the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC), the IFC said on Thursday.

Grivalia will use the long-term loan facility to improve energy efficiency in its real estate portfolio and for acquisitions.

The World Bank and Turkey's gas grid BOTAŞ signed a $400 million financing deal on Feb. 8 for the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, which will carry gas from a gas field in Azerbaijan across Turkey and further on to Europe.

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a 182.6 million euro development policy loan to Serbia.

The loan will support the government in improving its management of public expenditure and making energy and transport public utilities more efficient and financially sustainable, Tanjug said, quoting a statement issued by the financial institution.

The World Bank said late on Dec. 15 that 48 governments have ratcheted up the fight against extreme poverty by committing $75 billion in new funds to the International Development Association, the bank's fund for the poorest countries. 

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has said it had a fourth consecutive record year in Turkey, investing $1.8 billion to support sustainable energy and infrastructure development, improve municipal services, promote local capital markets and help Turkish companies increase competitiveness and impact, in a written statement on Sept. 26. 

The World Bank is ready to help Serbia benefit from the implementation of new technologies in the next four-five years, says WB Country Manager Tony Verheijen.

In that way, the country could make a shift from an economy driven by the public sector to an economy driven by the private sector, he remarked on Thursday.

The government nominated on Wednesday the Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Dimitar Radev as Governor for Bulgaria in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The World Bank Group is allocating USD 1.2 B to Albania under the 2015-2019 Country Partnership Framework (CPF), the international institution has announced.

This is a substantial share of its GDP, which amounted to about USD 13.6 B in 2014 according to national statistics.