Belarus | World Bank

Belarus - Integrated Solid Waste Management Project

Belarus - Trans-European Corridor Road Improvement Project

Executive summary : component one - mechanical separation facility in the city of Grodno

The objective of the Integrated Solid Waste Management Project for Belarus is to improve environmental benefits of integrated solid waste management in Grodno through recovery and reuse of recyclable materials in line with good international standards. Negative measures include: dust from construction activities and traffic-related air quality impacts; sewage disposal and drainage; noise from construction activities and vehicular movements; and soil contamination and effects on groundwater. Mitigation measures include: (i) arrangement of gas scrubbing systems: dust-collecting filter for treatment of ventilation emissions from the production building, and gas scrubbing units in the welding and mechanical sections; (ii) arrangement of hermetic collector for wastewaters collection; (iii) construction of industrial wastewater treatment plant; (iv) construction of rain waters treatment plant; (v) removal of topsoil prior to construction works and its further use for arrangement of lawns; (v) site improvement and greening; and (vi) minimize dust and traffic emissions by good operation management and site supervision. Apply dust suppression measures (water sprinkling), especially during long dry periods.

Environmental impact assessment and environmental management plan : component one - mechanical separation facility in the city of Grodno

Belarus - Trans-European Corridor Road Improvement Project

Status of projects in execution (SOPE) - FY09 : Europe and Central Asia region - Belarus

The Status of Projects in Execution (SOPE) report for FY09 provides information on all International Bank and Rural Development (IBRD)/International Development Association (IDA) projects that were active on June 30, 2009. The report is intended to bridge the gap in information available to the public between the project appraisal document, disclosed after the Bank approves a project, and the implementation completion report, disclosed after the project closes. In addition to the project progress description, the FY09 SOPE report contains project level comparisons of disbursement estimates and actual disbursements, and a table showing the loan/credit/grant amount and disbursements to date for all active projects.

Environmental impact assessment : component three - persistent organic pollutant stockpile management

Belarus - Development Policy Loan Project

Executive summary : component three - persistent organic pollutant stockpile management

Belarus - Energy Efficiency Project

The objective of the Energy Efficiency Project is to improve energy efficiency in heat and power generation in selected towns in Belarus. There are three components to the project. The first component is the conversion of existing heat-only-boiler plants to combined heat and power plants. The project will convert existing heat-only-boiler plants to combined heat and power plants at six sites. All plants will use natural gas as the main fuel. The largest plant will be in Borisov with a combined heat and power (CHP) unit with an electricity capacity of about 65 MW, followed by the Mogilev combined cycle CHP plant of 15.5 MW of electricity capacity. The introduction of combined heat and power generation will improve efficiency of the plants and thus reduce gas consumption. The second component is the design and supervision consultancy. The design and supervision consultancy will be performed by Belarusian design institutes and financed by the Belarusian side. In addition, the component will also finance construction management and investment monitoring. Finally, the third component is the project Implementation and management. A Project Management Unit (PMU) will carry out the procurement, contract supervision, and financial management of the project including auditing and other fiduciary requirements.

Belarus - Solid Waste Management Project

Environmental assessment (Energy efficiency department's component)

The objective of the Proposed Energy Efficiency Project is to improve energy security, increase energy efficiency in energy sector in Belarus, and reduce negative environmental impact. Negative measures include: air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, waste, soil erosion, increased risk of traffic accidents from increased traffic of heavy machinery, and loss of or damage to archaeological artefacts. Mitigation measures include: (a) working places will be provided with inventory containers for domestic and small construction wastes; (b) disturbed topsoil will be remediated and rapidly growing vegetation will be planted; (c) if any archaeological artefacts are found, work will be stop and the respective local authorities and experts informed; (d) traffic will be temporary diverted and safe speed limits will be established and enforced during the construction period, if necessary; and (e) scrap metal will be separated from the other construction waste for re-use. Middle size concrete scum without reinforcing rods may be used for filling deep gullies, hollows, and other types of road fixing.

Environmental assessment (Borisov and Mogilev sites)

Doing business 2010 : Belarus - comparing regulation in 183 economies

Doing Business 2010 is the seventh in a series of annual reports investigating regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. This paper presents the summary Doing Business indicators for Belarus. The paper includes the following headings: introduction and aggregate rankings, starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, closing a business, and Doing Business 2010 reform.

Running a business in Belarus

New data from enterprise surveys indicate that tax reforms undertaken by the government of Belarus are positively impacting the private sector. Firms interviewed in 2005 and 2008 report significantly fewer required meetings with tax officials and lower incidence of tax-related bribes. Nevertheless, firms continue to report high tax rates as the biggest obstacle to their establishment. This is not surprising, given Belarus's bottom ranking for doing business paying taxes index. In addition, adhering to government regulations is time consuming in Belarus. Relative to Eastern European and Central Asian (ECA) countries, Belarussian firms indicate that a large percentage of senior management time is spent dealing with the requirements of government regulations. Belarus leads ECA countries in female participation in both employment and ownership ranking third in both measures. Belarus also stands out in the region as having a large percentage of government or state ownership in firms with mixed ownership.

Belarus - Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project (additional financing) : procurement plan

Status of projects in execution (SOPE) - FY08 : Europe and Central Asia region - Belarus

The Status of Projects in Execution (SOPE) report for FY08 provides information on all International Bank and Rural Development (IBRD)/International Development Association (IDA) projects that were active on June 30, 2008. The report is intended to bridge the gap in information available to the public between the project appraisal document, disclosed after the Bank approves a project, and the implementation completion report, disclosed after the project closes. In addition to the project progress description, the FY08 SOPE report contains project level comparisons of disbursement estimates and actual disbursements, and a table showing the loan/credit/grant amount and disbursements to date for all active projects.

Doing business 2009 : country profile for Belarus - comparing regulation in 181 economies

Doing Business 2009 is the sixth in a series of annual reports investigating regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 181 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. This paper presents the summary Doing Business indicators for Belarus. The paper includes the following headings: introduction, starting a business, dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business.

Roma education to get crucial boost in funding

2009-11-12T20:18:19.000Z

Roma education to get crucial boost in funding

BRUSSELS, November 12, 2009―At an international donor conference hosted by the Open Society Institute, the World Bank and the European Economic and Social Coimmittee, donors swung their financial support behind education for the Roma, Europe ’s largest minority population. The €25.5 million in funding commitments announced by donors today is targeted for the Roma Education Fund (REF) and will provide the essential ingredients needed for children to succeed in school: scholarships, school meals, teacher training and academic support. The added financial support will also help governments develop stronger national policies for Roma inclusion.

“Roma want to contribute to society. They want to improve the lives of their children and give them a better life than they had. The most important factor that keeps so many Roma trapped in poverty is a lack of education; with increased political will and improved cooperation we can tackle this problem head-on,” said George Soros, chairman of the Open Society Institute and one of the founders of the Roma Education Fund.

The REF is a grant-making and policy analysis foundation established in 2005 that designs and supports programmes and projects to improve Roma education outcomes in Europe . With help from the Fund, last year alone over 30,000 students, from pre-school to university, showed improved test scores while more than 800 Roma students attended and graduated from university.
Roma continue to face discrimination and exclusion from opportunities available to most citizens. They often lack access to good quality education or other social services, holding low quality and low-paying jobs.

“The primary school completion rate among young Roma is similar to that prevailing in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This strikes me as something that does not belong in the Europe of the 21 st century”, said the World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The amount committed today will enable the REF to continue closing the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non-Roma children by supporting quality education for Roma, desegregation of education systems, and improvement of Roma’s social inclusion. “The REF has identified what works in Roma education. The time has come to move to large scale interventions,” said Costel Bercus, chair of the REF governing board.

www.romaeducationfund.hu
www.refdonorconference.org

Contacts:
Luis Montero
luis.montero@osf-eu.org
Alexander Rowland
arowland@worldbank.org

Request for expressions of interest: Establishment and coordination of the Migration and Remittances Peer-Assisted Learning network

2009-11-09T07:36:42.000Z

The Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank has been active in providing a range of live and virtual interactive programs to support the improvement of the environment of migrant workers within the former Soviet Union (FSU) states . A series of video conference based dialogues between six CIS countries provided for dialogue with experts on best practices worldwide. The series led to a study tour in the Philippines and a subsequent workshop for representatives from each of participating country in Moscow, and a new video conferencing series has recently been launched. This time the series will also be focused on helping to establishment of the MiRPAL (Migration and Remittances Peer-Assisted Learning) network, a community of practitioners in this area located throughout the region.

The World Bank is now interested in identifying a firm (e.g. NGO, think tank etc) that would serve as the secretariat supporting the establishment and operations of the MiRPAL network. This selected firm will be expected to carry out the following tasks over the period of January 2010 – December 2012:
• Provide intellectual leadership to the MiRPAL community and to individual country participants to support the development of plans for reform of migration regimes at the level of the individual countries and for the initiation of new mechanisms to support migrant workers abroad. These efforts will be based on the areas defined in the Protocol of Intention and Action Plan developed by participants at the migration and remittances workshop in Moscow in July 2009.
• Help community members to assess the validity of different approaches to reform that have been adopted by other countries and to help provide access to best practices approaches and experts/peers involved in them.
• Support the development of the community by initiating and conducting live and virtual meetings and knowledge-sharing events intended to build collaboration between members. It is expected that these activities will reflect demand from community participants. (The selected firm may wish to subcontract out the organization and logistics of staging such events and can organize the event in a third country if needed.)
• Work to help initiate and build relationships and collaborations between community members from different countries.

As an initial key task is for the firm oversee the organization of a workshop for approximately 60 potential network participants in March 2010. This work will involve the identification of a suitable conference facility, arranging for lodging, transportation and catering. The firm may contract out all or part of the responsibility of logistical and organizational matters.

Firms may bid in consortia with other firms from their own or from other countries.
The selected firm will be responsible for these tasks for a three year period starting in December 2009.

The firm will be selected based on the following criteria:
- Ability to propose a well-defined strategy towards the MiRPAL network establishment and development.
- Readiness to propose a team of experts, based in one of the FSU countries, who have an international recognition and significant track record of research and analytical work in the area of labor migration and remittances and who will be ready to commit sufficient amount of their time to the tasks under this assignment.
- Experience in creating and coordinating communities of practice, in particular using online tools.
- Feasibility of a price quotation (Note: the budget for the March 2010 workshop will not be requested as part of the firms’ proposals and will be negotiated and finalized at a later stage).
- Experience in managing organization of international workshops and conferences.
- Fluency in Russian of the key staff and availability of staff proficient in English.

During the first stage of the selection, the World Bank is requesting interested firms to submit expressions of interest (in English language) consisting of the following information:
1. Name of the firm and the contact person. Firm’s contact information, including mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, email address.
2. Brief information about the firm (up to one page), including date of creation, management structure, key services, key projects, key clients, URL of the Web site.
3. One-paragraph explanation of why the firm will be able to successfully carry out the proposed assignment.

The expressions of interest should be emailed to Moscow@worldbank.org by November 20, 2009. Only shortlisted firms will be contacted and requested to submit more detailed proposals, including CVs of the key staff and price quotation. The selected firm is expected to be notified by December 15, 2009.

The project Trans-European Corridor Road Improvement Project is now in the pipeline.

2009-11-05T05:00:00.000Z

The project Trans-European Corridor Road Improvement Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Transition since Fall of Berlin Wall Shapes Today’s Crisis and Recovery

2009-11-03T17:05:11.000Z

Report on eve of 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall says structural reforms are now necessary to protect hard-won gains

WASHINGTON, November 3, 2009―The economic policy choices made by some countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA)* during the transition from centrally planned to market economies contained the seeds of vulnerability when facing the global economic crisis, and are also likely to shape the recovery, says a new World Bank report issued on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The report, Turmoil at Twenty: Recession, Recovery, and Reform in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, says many countries in ECA are well integrated today into global markets. While this integration brought many benefits and drove the region’s spectacular growth in the decade since the Russia financial crisis of 1998, it also exposed ECA countries to three channels through which the crisis has hit the region hard: financial, market, and labor.

Excessively rapid catch-up towards Western European living standards by countries that had suffered deep or double transition recessions in the late 1990s, enabled by bank lending at a time of unusually high global liquidity, led to rapid growth, but also created serious macroeconomic imbalances when facing the 2008-09 global crisis. Short-term maturing debt reached extremely high values. But not all financially integrated countries in the region were equally vulnerable. Their experience suggests that tighter fiscal policies, without necessarily insulating countries from the crisis, could have played a stabilizing role, even though the imbalances did not generally originate in the public sector.

The report says that international collective action comprising generous official financing and coordination by Western European parent banks to maintain their exposures in Central and Eastern Europe has allowed maturing external debt to be rolled over, at least so far. Those parent banks were crucial in hardening budget constraints and attaining macroeconomic stability during the first decade of transition.

“The outlook for economic growth in emerging Europe and Central Asia is considerably weaker than that in the years before the crisis,” said Pradeep Mitra, one of the authors of the report and former World Bank Chief Economist of the Europe and Central Asia Region. “If parent banks reduce exposures in countries of the region due to recognition of losses in their home market, continuing collective action will be necessary to make this process gradual and less disruptive.”

According to the report, the weak outlook for growth highlights the urgency of proceeding with bank, corporate, and household debt restructuring. Government should set up enabling frameworks for debt restructuring, but resist using public resources since household debt is typically not concentrated among the poorer households.

The poorer countries of the former Soviet Union that are financially less integrated are experiencing the crisis primarily as a result of a downturn in exports and decline in workers’ remittances due to the recession in the Russian Federation. Thus, in Tajikistan, the poorest country of the region, it is estimated that a 30 percent decline in remittances would reduce the consumption of the bottom fifth of households by around 20 percent. While some countries have safety net programs that deliver a substantial proportion of benefits to poorer households, more resources are necessary to scale up these programs where they exist, and introduce targeted programs where they do not. Official financing for a number of years will be necessary to support desirable social spending until a durable recovery is in place.

The report recommends that with capital flows likely to be considerably lower than pre-crisis levels, and financial markets already differentiating across countries, policy makers need to address the most binding constraints to growth in order to improve their business environment and remain competitive.

“It is remarkable that business surveys show infrastructure and labor skills – formerly the main assets of transition countries – not only to be the tightest bottlenecks to the operation and growth of firms, but also more constraining than in non-transition economies at similar income levels. These sectors require urgent reforms,” said Mitra. “However, the surveys also show significant progress after two decades of transition in building institutions of the market economy. For example, tax administration and customs regulation which have traditionally ranked high among constraints to the operation and growth of firms are now seen as less constraining and indeed in line with non-transition economies at similar income levels.”

* The ECA countries include Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, the Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Contacts:
In Washington:
Elena Karaban 202-473-9277
Ekaraban@worldbank.org
Michael Jones 202-473-2588
Mjones2@worldbank.org

CLIMATE THREATS TO EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA REGION REAL AND GROWING, SAYS WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT

2009-10-26T14:32:43.000Z

The latest World Development Report finds that vulnerability to climate change in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is compounded by weak environmental management over many decades and the poor state of much of the region’s infrastructure. Many ECA countries are also among the world’s least energy efficient.

World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change, released in advance of the December meetings on climate change in Copenhagen, stresses that resilient, low-carbon growth is possible for developing and emerging economies, although poorer countries will require financial and technical assistance from high-income countries to support climate fixes.

"To solve the climate problem, we urgently need to transform energy systems towards higher energy efficiency and more low-carbon technologies," says Marianne Fay, Director of the WDR and Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Network. This is particularly true in ECA, where increasing energy efficiency and bringing ECA economies’ currently very high carbon intensity closer to international norms is desirable for many other reasons—competitiveness, energy security, and public health.

Ms Fay, who is in the region to highlight the WDR’s relevance to ECA, stressed that policymakers should act now, act together, and act differently to tackle climate change.

Countries need to act now because today’s decisions about energy, infrastructure, and the built environment will shape future policy options and therefore will determine the climate of tomorrow. Countries need to act together because no one country can take on the interconnected challenges posed by climate change, and global cooperation is needed to improve energy efficiency and develop new technologies. Countries need to act differently, because business as usual would put the world onto a potentially catastrophic path with unacceptable costs to development.

The world’s developing countries—including those in ECA—will bear most of the costs of the damage from climate change. For example, rising temperatures and reduced precipitation in Central Asia will exacerbate the environmental catastro¬phe of the disappearing Southern Aral Sea (caused by the diversion of water to grow cotton in a desert climate), while sand and salt from the dried-up seabed are blowing onto Central Asia’s glaciers, accelerating the melting caused by higher temperatures. Poorly constructed, badly maintained, and aging infrastructure and housing are ill suited to withstand today’s storms, heat waves, and floods, let alone protect populations from the impacts of increasingly frequent and intense extreme events.

Average temperatures across ECA have already increased by 0.5°C in the south to 1.6°C in the north, and overall increases of 1.6 to 2.6°C are expected by the middle of the century. This is affecting hydrology, with a rapid melting of the region's glaciers and a decrease in winter snows. Many countries are already suffering from winter floods and summer droughts—with both Southeastern Europe and Central Asia at risk for severe water shortages. Summer heat waves are expected to claim more lives than will be saved by warmer winters.

“Much has been made of the fact that warmer climate and abundant precipitation in parts of Europe and Central Asia—particularly Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine—will open up a new agricultural frontier. However, any local potential benefit pales in comparison to the existing costs of the region’s relative inefficiency and low productivity,” says Ms Fay. “While world grain yields have been growing on average by about 1.5 percent per year, they have been falling or stagnant in these three countries.”

Regardless of climate change, ECA will gain a lot by improving its water resource management, addressing its serious environmental legacies, upgrading neglected infrastructure and housing, and strengthening disaster management. But the region should also develop strategies to reduce vulnerability to future changes—focusing on infrastructure but also on capacity building and stronger institutions to support adaptation and help people take advantage of changing opportunities, for example, in agriculture and energy. Much of the adaptation needed to make ECA more resilient to climate change will have substantial co-benefits for other development priorities.

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases is also important for ECA countries, particularly the EU members bound by EU community-wide policy goals. Even those without obligations can benefit, through reduced costs and greater energy security, from reducing fossil-fuel dependence and increasing efficiency—and from seizing opportunities to produce renewable energy.

Experiences from the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, and Global Environmental Factility show promising results for energy efficiency programs in the region, including Bulgaria, Hungary, and Serbia. Lessons indicate the importance of a guarantee mechanism to increase investor confidence in projects, and of technical assistance to raise awareness of energy efficiency and to provide training and advisory services to local banks and project developers.

The World Bank is among the organizations providing international assistance and finance to support ECA countries’ efforts to adapt to climate change and reduce their own emissions, both through innovative financing mechanisms as well as through direct lending. For example, in May 2009, Turkey became the first country to access low-interest financing from a Clean Technology Fund administered by the World Bank Group, to expand its wind power capacity from over the next fifteen years.

The project Belarus DPL is now in the pipeline.

2009-10-19T04:00:00.000Z

The project Belarus DPL is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

This document describes the Development Policy Loan (DPL) for $200 million that supports the Government's program aimed at addressing the social impact of the crisis, while advancing the structural reforms to foster economic recovery. The reforms supported by this operation aim at strengthening social assistance programs to function better as a cushion to protect the poorest and those vulnerable to fall into poverty due to the economic slowdown and future reforms. Moreover, this operation supports a significant structural reform agenda aimed at unlocking new sources of recovery and medium term growth, particularly through further price liberalization, reducing the costs of entry for new businesses, reducing regulatory and administrative costs of operation for the private sector, reducing subsidies, and eliminating inefficient taxes. At the same time, it supports initial steps in setting the legal and institutional basis for an adequate and transparent privatization process.

Global Crisis Hits Home in Emerging Europe and Central Asia

2009-10-03T07:40:09.000Z

Contacts:

Kristyn Schrader (90) 530-929-45-35

kschrader@worldbank.org

Tunya Celasin (90) 533-285-18-21

tcelasin@worldbank.org

ISTANBUL, October 3, 2009—The global economic crisis has reversed the impressive economic growth of recent years in Emerging Europe and Central Asia, hitting families hard with higher unemployment and lost wages. Financially weaker governments will need to protect poor people while strengthening institutions and infrastructure to attract investors, the World Bank said today at a press briefing at the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings.

“The global financial and economic crisis has literally hit home in many parts of Emerging Europe and Central Asia,” said Philippe Le Houérou, World Bank Vice-President for Europe and Central Asia. “What started as a financial crisis has become a social and human crisis. The global crisis has come on the heels of the food and fuel crises, which had already weakened people in the region by reducing their purchasing power. Today, rising poverty and joblessness are pushing households into poverty and making things even harder for those already poor.”

For the past decade, many countries of Emerging Europe and Central Asia notched up impressive growth, moving them closer to the living standards of Western Europe and other advanced economies. But the crisis has hit them hardest and stopped that convergence. Growth has plummeted from a fast clip of 7.6 percent in 2007 to 4.7 percent in 2008, and is projected at negative 5.6 percent in 2009.

“For years now, Emerging Europe and Central Asia has roared along in high gear,” said Le Houérou. “But the global crisis and the drying up of external private financial flows are stalling the engine of growth, prompting many to downshift and some to even slip into reverse. The job now for the governments in the region is to speed up reforms. The role of the international community is to help countries get back in gear. For us at the World Bank, that means essentially focusing our support to governments in their efforts to clean up the banking sector so that banks can provide a lifeline for firms and businesses to grow and create jobs, improve the business climate to attract private capital flows, make public spending more efficient so that the benefits reach working families, and continue to finance key public investments in infrastructure.”

Unemployment and deficits on the rise

The global crisis has hit some countries worse than others but today there is a danger that the region faces a weak and jobless recovery. Some countries, such as Poland, have fared better than others. Still, the number of jobless in the region has jumped from 8.3 million in 2008 to 11.4 million in 2009. It has doubled in the Baltic countries, grown by 60 percent in Turkey, and by one-third in other countries in the region.

“Instead of the number of poor falling by 15 million in 2009, we now project poverty to increase by about 15 million,” said Indermit Gill, World Bank Chief Economist for the Europe and Central Asia Region. “There are already 145 million poor people in the region – or almost one-third of the total population. For them, the crisis has made an already tough existence even tougher. Much of the world is getting good economic news this autumn. But for workers and their families in Emerging Europe and Central Asia the news is not encouraging. To them, the talk of recovery may seem premature.”

In the face of the unprecedented crisis, governments in Emerging Europe and Central Asia will have many hard choices to make, given that government deficits will increase from 1.5 percent of GDP in 2008 to 5.5 percent in 2009, said Gill. This will put more pressure on governments to make spending more efficient.

“Social spending makes up more than half of government expenditures so governments will need to make education, health care and social security more efficient,” Gill said. “School systems need to be resized to fit shrinking enrollment numbers due to falling fertility. Health care has to be restructured because many countries now have the health problems of high-income countries with the fiscal resources of middle-income economies. And social security has to be restructured to recognize that many countries in the region have aged before they have become wealthy. Reforms will help make governments fiscally healthy, economies robust, and societies more fair. Every responsible policymaker should take a hard look at these reforms.”

Also, governments must continue to improve their business environment to attract investment. During the last decade, countries in Emerging Europe and Central Asia have made progress in improving the climate for doing business. The region has been the top performer in the World Bank’s Doing Business ratings for the last six years—led first by countries in central and southern Europe and more recently by those in the Caucasus and Central Asia. This year, five of the top ten reformers were from the region: Krygyz Republic, FYR Macedonia, Belarus, Tajikistan, and Moldova.

World Bank supporting reforms through lending and advice

While governments are in the lead, the World Bank is helping countries navigate their way through the crisis, Le Houérou said. For its part, the World Bank is providing budget support to countries to support promising reform efforts. During the past year, the World Bank has increased financial support to the region by 60 percent, from $8 billion last year to $12.5 billion this year with the aim of mitigating the impact of the crisis on the poor, stabilizing banks, and positioning countries for post-crisis recovery. In September 2009 alone, the Bank approved $2 billion in budget support to Hungary, Latvia, and Ukraine.

Along with funding, the Bank is offering analytical support and encouraging governments to expand selected social safety net programs. Currently, most countries in the region have good programs that could be expanded during the crisis, such as those in the Kyrgyz Republic, Albania and Georgia where benefits are most likely to reach the neediest people. At the same time, the Bank is advising governments on how to fix less efficient programs to ensure benefits are reaching the right target audiences. Although many countries in the region have excelled on improving the business environment, many countries have not improved social service delivery.

The World Bank’s client countries in Emerging Europe and Central Asia are currently using Bank funds for 53 projects spanning institutional reform, infrastructure and interventions to help the neediest. Also, through the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Bank has teamed up with the EBRD and EIB on a $31 billion fund to support the banking sector and to fund lending to businesses hit by the global economic crisis through equity and debt finance, credit lines, and political risk insurance. And the Bank’s political risk insurance arm, MIGA, has made up to $3 billion available for investments in the heavily hit economies of the region. Guarantees worth nearly half of a $1 billion were issued in support of shareholder loans made by parent banks to their subsidiaries in Ukraine and Russia.

For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org/eca

New World Bank Resident Representative in Belarus

2009-08-25T11:38:36.000Z

Mr. Ivan Velev, a new World Bank Resident Representative in Belarus, assumed his duties in Minsk. Ivan Velev has been appointed to deepen the World Bank’s engagement with Belarus.

Mr. Velev, a Bulgarian national, joined the Bank in 1997 and took positions in different regions - Europe and Central Asia Africa and East Asia working on issues of corporate strategy, governance and infrastructure. In his most recent assignment he coordinated activities in the public sector reforms and infrastructure development in the World Bank Regional Office for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova in Kyiv.

Mr. Velev leads a mid-term Review of the World Bank Country Assistance Strategy for Belarus (2008-11).

Ivan Velev holds a PhD in Law and Economics from Syracuse University and a BA, MA in International Law and International Relations from the Moscow State Institute for International Relations.

Mr. Velev is married with a son.

PROJECT SIGNING: WORLD BANK CONTINUES COOPERATION WITH BELARUS IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY

2009-06-08T14:42:49.000Z

The Republic of Belarus and the World Bank signed today the loan agreement for a US$125 million Energy Efficiency Project for Belarus, following the loan’s approval by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on May 28, 2009. The project is aimed at improving energy efficiency in heat and power generation in selected towns in Belarus.

The legal agreement was signed by Mr. Valery N. Koreshkov, Chairman of the State Committee for Standardization of Republic of Belarus and Mr. Martin Raiser, World Bank Country Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. Mr. Ted Ahlers, World Bank Director for Strategy and Operations for Europe and Central Asia, attended the ceremony.

On the occasion of the loan signing, Martin Raiser, Country Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, stated: “The World Bank is pleased to support Belarus significant efforts to improve energy efficiency. This project is the extension of our productive partnership with the country in the energy area. Energy efficiency and associated reductions in carbon emissions will remain one of our priorities as we carry out a mid-term review of our strategy.”

The project’s main objective is the conversion of six existing heat-only-boiler plants to combined heat and power plants in different locations across Belarus. As a result, about 90 MW of additional electric capacity based on modern combined cycle gas turbines and gas engines will be installed. Furthermore, the efficiency of heat and power generation at the project sites is expected to increase by about 30 percent. It is estimated that about 90 million cubic meters of natural gas (equivalent to some USD 13 million at current import prices) will be saved annually, which would lead to the reduction of about 165,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The project will be implemented by the Belinvestenergosberezhenie state enterprise reporting to the Energy Efficiency Department under the Committee of Standardization, the agency responsible for the National Energy Efficiency program.

The World Bank loan has a maturity of 16 years including a 6-year grace period. Implementation of the World Bank funded project will begin in 2009 and will take five years.

Belarus joined the World Bank in 1992. Since then, commitments to the country total US$443 million for 8 operations. The World Bank supports Belarus in improving people’s lives by enhancing the competitiveness of the country economy to assure rising incomes and protecting the welfare of the weakest, and addressing global environment, and energy challenges.

Europe and Central Asia Facing Significant Climate Change Threats, But Are In ‘Adaptation Deficit’

2009-06-02T14:25:40.000Z

Contacts:
In Brussels: Alexander Rowland +32-478-319939
Arowland@worldbank.org

In Washington: Kristyn Schrader +1-202-458-2736
Kschrader@worldbank.org

BONN, June 2, 2009—The World Bank today warned that the impact of climate change in the Europe and Central Asia Region* will be more significant than expected due to a lingering post-Soviet legacy of environmental mismanagement and the poor state of much of the Region’s infrastructure, leaving the countries poorly prepared to adapt.

“Europe and Central Asia suffers from an ‘adaptation deficit’ that is already challenged by recent climate variability,” said Marianne Fay, Director of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2010, and author of the new report ‘Adapting to Climate Change in Europe and Central Asia’, “which will only worsen with the consequences of projected trends in climate in the coming decades.”

Fay added that “While almost two decades have passed since the breakup of the Soviet Union and its partner countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the legacy of environmental mismanagement and oversized infrastructure in countries outside the European Union still remains a dangerous holdover from the past. It greatly worsens the countries’ vulnerability to even modest changes in the climate.”

Launched today during the UNFCCC Bonn Climate Change Talks and on the eve of ‘World Environment Day’ (June 5^th), the report says that, contrary to popular perception, the Region is significantly threatened by climate change and is already experiencing the consequences: increasing variability, warmer temperatures, changing hydrology, and more extremes – droughts, floods, heat waves, as well as windstorms and forest fires.

Average temperatures across ECA have already increased by 0.5ºC in the south to 1.6ºC in the north (Siberia) since the early 1900s and overall increases of 1.6 to 2.6ºC above are expected by the middle of the century, with the greater changes occurring in the more northern latitudes. The north is projected to see greater temperature changes in winter, with the number of frost days declining by 14 to 30 days over the next 20 to 40 years. Southern parts of the region are expected to see the greatest changes in the summer, with the number of hot days increasing by 22 to 37 days over the same period. This warming trend is significant: by mid-century, countries such as Poland or Hungary are expected to experience the same number of hot days (>30^oC) as today’s Spain or Sicily.

According to Fay, “Increases in temperature are affecting hydrology, with a rapid melting of the region’s glaciers and a decrease in winter snows. Many countries are already suffering from winter floods and summer droughts – with both Southeastern Europe and Central Asia at risk for severe water shortages. Summer heat waves are expected to claim more lives than will be saved by warmer winters.”

The report says that changes in sea level, another impact of climate change, will affect the Region’s four basins – the Baltic Sea, the East Adriatic and Mediterranean coast of Turkey, the Black Sea, and the Caspian – and the Russian Arctic Ocean. On the Baltic, Poland, with its heavily populated low-lying coast, is the most vulnerable. Along the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, storm surge and saltwater intrusion into aquifers threaten parts of the Croatian, Albanian, and Turkish coasts. Sea level rise in the Black Sea is already threatening numerous ports and towns along the Russian, Ukrainian, and Georgian coasts. In the Caspian Sea, increased surface evaporation is projected to decrease water levels by as much as 6 meters by the end of the 21st century, imperiling

fish stocks and affecting coastal infrastructure.

However, according to the report, legacy issues make the Region even more vulnerable. Under the Soviet system, economic growth was pursued in blatant disregard to natural conditions. When water was needed for irrigation, the rivers feeding the Aral Sea were diverted to the desert to produce rice, fruit, and cotton. Uzbekistan became one of the world’s largest exporters of cotton, but at the cost of destroying the Aral Sea in the process.

The historic poor environmental management across the Region has its consequences. Even countries and sectors that stand to benefit from climate change are currently poorly positioned to do so. According to Fay, “Much has been made of the fact that warmer climate and abundant precipitation in the northeastern part of Europe and Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine – will open up a new agricultural frontier. However, any local potential benefit pales in comparison to the costs of the region’s relative inefficiency and low productivity. While world grain yields have been growing on average by about 1.5 percent per year, they have been falling or stagnant in these three countries.”

But over the next ten to twenty years, Europe and Central Asia’s resilience to climate shocks can be strengthened with improved infrastructure and environmental management systems, all of which will have positive consequences for sustainable development. Regardless of climate change, Europe and Central Asia will gain from improving its water resource management, tackling its environmental pollution problems, upgrading neglected infrastructure and housing, and strengthening disaster management. These steps will also greatly strengthen the Region’s ability to cope with the current climate.

Adapting to the changing climate will also require specific climate-related actions: investments in weather and water monitoring; the capacity to interpret and disseminate climate information; institutions to support adaptation efforts, whether by large firms or small farmers; and policies to foster incentives for informed, proactive responses to the challenges of climate change.

The Europe and Central Asian countries will need to develop strategies to reduce vulnerability to future changes. Jane Ebinger, World Bank Senior Energy Specialist, emphasized the need for stakeholder involvement in adaption. “Adaptation strategies will require steps to bring together policy makers, planners, asset owners, academics, and civil society to discuss and assess the risks a country may face from current weather and projected climate change, and identify possible adaptation measures, their costs and benefits. In addition, the experience of countries, regions, or cities currently developing and implementing adaptation plans offers valuable lessons and methodologies.”

*Europe and Central Asia Region economies: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,

For more information, please visit: www.worldbank.org/eca

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The project Energy Efficiency has changed to Active

2009-06-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project Energy Efficiency has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

World Bank Supports Belarus Energy Efficiency Program with $125 Million Loan

2009-05-29T05:53:23.000Z

The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank approved a US$125 million loan to the Republic of Belarus to support a US$193.10 million Energy Efficiency Project aimed at improving energy efficiency in heat and power generation in selected towns in Belarus.

In recent years, Belarus has made significant efforts to reduce energy intensity and improve efficiency. With rising energy import prices and against the background of the global economic and financial crisis, these are among the country’s top priorities. “This is the largest loan we have made to Belarus to date, “says Martin Raiser, Country Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. “We support the Belarussian authorities in their efforts to increase energy security, reduce carbon emissions, and lay the foundation for competitiveness and growth through improved energy efficiency.”

The project’s main objective is the conversion of six existing heat-only-boiler plants to combined heat and power plants in different locations across Belarus. As a result, about 90 MW of an additional electric capacity based on modern combined cycle gas turbines and gas engines will be installed. Furthermore, the efficiency of heat and power generation at the project sites is expected to increase by about 30 percent. It is estimated that about 90 million cubic meters of natural gas will be saved annually, which would lead to the reduction of about 165,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
The project will be implemented by the Belinvestenergosberezhenie state enterprise reporting to the Energy Efficiency Department under the Committee of Standardization, the agency responsible for the National Energy Efficiency Program.

According to Pekka Salminen, World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, “Following two demand side energy efficiency projects – the Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project and the Post Chernobyl Recovery Project - supported by the World Bank’s loans, the Energy Efficiency Project will help Belarus improving energy efficiency on the supply side of power and heat generation”.

The World Bank loan has a maturity of 16 years including a 6 year grace period. Implementation of the World Bank funded project will begin in 2009 and will take five years.

World Bank Supports Belarus Energy Efficiency Program with $125 Million Loan

2009-05-28T21:58:06.000Z

Contacts

In Minsk: Irina Oleinik,

+375 (17)226 52 84

ioleinik@worldbank.org

In Washington: Michael Jones

(+1-202) 473-2588

mjones2@worldbank.org

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2009. The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank today approved a US$125 million loan to the Republic of Belarus to support a US$193.10 million Energy Efficiency Project aimed at improving energy efficiency in heat and power generation in selected towns in Belarus.

In recent years, Belarus has made significant efforts to improve energy efficiency and to reduce energy intensity. With rising energy import prices and against the background of the global economic and financial crisis, these are among the country’s top priorities. “This is the largest loan we have made to Belarus to date,” says Martin Raiser, Country Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. “We support the Belarussian authorities in their efforts to increase energy security, reduce carbon emissions, and lay the foundation for competitiveness and growth through improved energy efficiency.”

The project will be implemented by the Belinvestenergosberezhenie state enterprise reporting to the Energy Efficiency Department under the Committee of Standardization, the agency responsible for the National Energy Efficiency Program.

According to Pekka Salminen, World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, “Following two energy efficiency projects – the Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project and the Post Chernobyl Recovery Project – that helped consumers to use less energy, the Energy Efficiency Project will help Belarus by improving energy efficiency on the supply side of power and heat generation.”

The World Bank loan has a maturity of 16 years including a 6 year grace period. Implementation of the World Bank funded project will begin in 2009 and will take five years.

Belarus joined the World Bank in 1992. Since then, commitments to the country total US$443 million for 8 operations. The World Bank supports Belarus in improving people’s lives by enhancing the competitiveness of the country’s economy to assure rising incomes while protecting the welfare of the most vulnerable, and by addressing environmental and energy challenges.

- ## -

For more information, please visit the country web site: http://www.worldbank.org.by

Belarus: Energy Efficiency Project

2009-05-28T15:30:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2009 - The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved the following project:

Belarus: Energy Efficiency Project

IBRD Loan: US$125 million equivalent

Terms: Maturity = 17 years; Grace = 6 years

Project No.: P108023

Project Description: The Energy Efficiency Project aims to help improve energy efficiency in heat and power generation in selected towns in Belarus. The project’s main objective is the conversion of six existing heat-only-boiler plants to combined heat and power plants in different locations across Belarus. As a result, about 90 MW of additional electric capacity based on modern combined cycle gas turbines and gas engines will be installed. The efficiency of heat and power generation at the project sites is expected to increase by about 30 percent. It is estimated that about 90 million cubic meters of natural gas will be saved annually, which would lead to the reduction of about 165,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Media Contact

Michael Jones

(202) 473-2588

mjones2@worldbank.org

For more project information, please visit:

http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P108023

World Bank discusses deeper engagement with Belarus

2009-04-21T16:33:10.000Z

World Bank Country Director Martin Raiser is visiting Belarus this week to discuss with the senior policy makers the possibilities of deepening the World Bank’s engagement with Belarus. As part of this expanding cooperation, the World Bank team, lead by Mr. Lawrence Bouton and Ms. Marina Bakanova, has begun discussions with the authorities on a possible Development Policy Loan (DPL) to help the county weather the global financial and economic crisis.

The impact of the external shocks associated with the international financial crisis and the global growth slowdown have been increasingly felt in Belarus since mid-October 2008. With the international environment being highly uncertain and worsening, Mr. Raiser highlighted the need for Belarus to continue with its macroeconomic stabilization efforts and at the same time to speed up and deepen structural reforms.

DPL provides rapidly-disbursing financing to help a borrower address actual or anticipated development financing requirements of domestic or external origins. A DPL aims to help the borrower achieve sustainable poverty reduction through a program of policy and institutional actions. It supports such reforms through non-earmarked general budget financing that is subject to the borrower's own implementation processes and systems.

The discussions on a possible DPL took place in the context of a mid-term review of the World Bank Country Assistance Strategy for Belarus, approved in December 2007. In reflection of Belarus’ increased financing needs and the authorities’ initial steps and continuing commitment towards deepening structural reforms, the World Bank is reviewing the scope and size of its financial assistance, including possible budget support through a DPL.

According to Martin Raiser, World Bank Country Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, “Like many countries in the region, Belarus has been strongly affected by the global economic and financial crisis. Our support under the revised Country Assistance Strategy will be devised to mitigate the social impacts of the crisis, maintain economic stability, and help Belarus lay the foundations for a sustained recovery through deepened structural reform that improves the environment for private business development”.

To date, the World Bank’s lending commitments in Belarus total US$318 million for 7 projects including three infrastructure projects under implementation. In mid 2009, the Bank will propose to its Board of Executive Directors a US$125 million loan to finance an energy efficiency project and a possible operation to support solid waste management is under preparation.

The project Belarus POPs Stockpile Management Project (GEF) is now in the pipeline.

2009-04-18T04:00:00.000Z

The project Belarus POPs Stockpile Management Project (GEF) is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Belarus Solid Waste Management Project is now in the pipeline.

2009-04-18T04:00:00.000Z

The project Belarus Solid Waste Management Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Grant Winners of Civil Society Fund

2009-03-23T13:14:47.000Z

Seven projects developed by the Belarusian civil society organizations have been announced grant winners of Civil Society Fund of the World Bank in 2009 and will receive grants up to US$ 8 thousand for the implementation of their ideas.

Grant winners include:

The Project «Business-Atlantes» - business studies for young people at global markets» developed by Center for Youth Entrepreneurship Support and Development. It is expected that through the use of business simulation techniques the project will help 500 students of the Belarusian universities build up business skills.
The Project «Promotion of rural business through development and introduction of various private enterprise models with ongoing counseling support» in the Chechersk district proposed by Association on presentation and protection of the interests of private agrarian enterprises «New agro-enterprise».
The Project «Popularization of consumer cooperatives of mutual financial support in the Republic of Belarus » developed by the Republican Association of Consumer Cooperatives of Mutual Financial Support.
The Project «Dialogue of Generations». The Belarusian League of Parents and Teachers «Step by Step» proposes to enhance opportunities for informal education, communication and dialogue of different generations in Soligorsk.
The Project «Addressing ecological education challenges within socio-ecological territory of the Augustovsky Canal » proposed by the Grodno District Women’s Organization «Nadezhda » of the Belarusian Union of Women.
The Project «Training small businesses in new business methods at the workshops with dissemination of the brochure «To help small business» developed by the Fund for Support of Social and Economic Reforms intended for implementation in Vitebsk.
The Project «Dialogue and cooperation between local authorities and communities will help address social and economic concerns in the Liozno district» proposed by the Liozno District Organization of the Belarusian Society of the Disabled.

Civil Society Development Fund of the World Bank supports activities aimed at dissemination of information intended to enhance the rights and opportunities of vulnerable groups, involvement of all stakeholders in addressing local development concerns, establishment of closer partnerships of the key players of development process such as government agencies, civil society organizations, multilateral and bilateral institutions and private sector.

45 project applications proposing solutions of local problems with active involvement of communities have been submitted in 2009 to the contest supported by Civil Society Fund of the World Bank. The Annual Program of Civil Society Fund (former Small Grants Program) for non-governmental associations has been implemented in Belarus since 1999.

68 projects worth of about US$420 thousand have been supported during this period.

VACANCY: Program Assistant

2009-03-16T08:26:24.000Z

The World Bank Country Office in Belarus
Opens a Vacancy for a Position of Program Assistant

The Program Assistant will provide a full range of office support work and assist the country office team on program-related activities and administrative issues.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:
Providing high-quality operational support to the World Bank programs and products, administrative and logistical support to operational staff and team members, including drafting, distributing, and filing operational correspondence and documents; preparing folders and background documents for meetings/events; managing offices supplies, publications, and conference room /VC reservations; providing specialized support in specific areas such as procurement, database management, and document editing; working in the Bank's operational systems (SAP, Project Portal etc.); advising teams on procedures and processes in line with Bank’s guidelines; preparing meeting schedules, screening and redirecting internal and external phone calls and queries, sorting and distributing incoming mail and faxes, performing receptionist duties; taking accurate phone messages, maintaining and updating telephone and address directories. Organizing World Bank activities, seminars, workshops, conferences. Coordinating travel and logistical arrangements for staff and visiting missions: flights, hotels reservations, visa requests and other travel arrangements.
Performing other administrative duties as required.

SELECTION CRITERIA:
University degree; excellent command of English with strong written and communication skills; minimum 7 years of work experience; extensive computer applications knowledge including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet, E-mail applications (preferably Lotus Notes); Adobe. Ability to pass mandatory Bank Group tests at time of recruitment. Demonstrated capacity of effective time management; excellent organizational and communications skills; ability to work under pressure and overtime (if required); strong team player . Work experience with international organizations is an asset.

Qualified candidates should submit their recent CVs to the World Bank Country Office in Minsk: C/o Mrs. Ekaterina Zhigunova, 2ª Gertsena Str., 2nd Floor, Minsk, 220030. Fax: 211-03-14, E-mail to: ezhigunova@worldbank.org.
Deadline for applications is March 23, 2009.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

EBRD, EIB and World Bank Group join forces to support Eastern Europe

2009-02-27T09:00:00.000Z

For EBRD:

Anthony Williams

Tel: +44 20 7338 6997

Email: WilliamA@ebrd.com

For EIB:

Gill Tudor

Tel: +352 43 79 8 31 53

Email: g.tudor@eib.org

For World Bank Group:

Lotte Pang

Tel: +12027584290

Email: LPang@ifc.org

Washington, 27 February 2009 - The largest multilateral investors and lenders in Eastern Europe - the EBRD, the EIB Group, and the World Bank Group - have pledged to provide up to €24.5 billion to support the banking sectors in the region and to fund lending to businesses hit by the global economic crisis.

This initiative complements national crisis responses and will deploy rapid, large-scale and coordinated financial assistance from the International Financial Institutions to support lending to the real economy through private banking groups, in particular to small and medium-sized enterprises. The financial support will include equity and debt finance, credit lines, and political risk insurance.

The response takes into account the different macroeconomic circumstances in and financial pressures on countries in Eastern Europe, acknowledging the diversity of challenges stemming from the global financial retrenchment.

EBRD President Thomas Mirow said: "The institutions are working together to find practical, efficient and timely solutions to the crisis in eastern Europe. We are acting because we have a special responsibility for the region and because it makes economic sense. For many years the growing integration of Europe has been a source of prosperity and mutual benefit and we must not allow this process to be reversed.”

“This joint action plan will help speed up the delivery of vital finance through the banks to support the real economy of hard-hit countries in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, and particularly to help small businesses survive in these turbulent times,” said EIB President Philippe Maystadt.

“This is a time for Europe to come together to ensure that the achievements of the last 20 years are not lost because of an economic crisis that is rapidly turning into a human crisis,” said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick. “I welcome the close cooperation among the EBRD, the EIB and the World Bank Group, and am committed to making this partnership work as we move forward to address the risk of a crisis of the banking sector in Eastern Europe.”

Under the two-year plan:

The EBRD will provide up to €6 billion for the financial sector in 2009-10 in the form of equity and debt finance, to banks and directly to SMEs, and trade finance.
The EIB will provide some €11 billion in SME lending facilities in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, of which €5.7 billion is already available for rapid disbursement, with a further €2.8 billion set for approval by end-April and further tranches expected to follow. The EIF, the EIB Group's venture capital and SME guarantee arm, is also aiming to increase its activity in the region over the next two years.
The World Bank Group will provide support of about €7.5 billion:
- IFC, through its crisis response initiatives in sectors including banking, infrastructure, and trade as well as through its traditional investment and advisory services, is expected to contribute up to €2 billion;
- IBRD intends to increased lending in Europe and Central Asia up to €16 billion in 2009-10 out of which up to €3.5 billion is envisaged for addressing banking sector issues in emerging Europe;
- MIGA will provide political risk insurance capacity of up to €2 billion for bank lending, subject to Board approval.

The response to Europe’s integrated financial markets requires fast and coordinated action; from parent banks, which own a large part of the region’s financial sectors; from systemically important local banks; from home and host country authorities of cross-border banking groups and from the European institutions and the IFIs.

By jointly addressing urgent financing needs, the three institutions in this initiative are drawing on their own mandates and specific capabilities to provide financial support.

The initiative goes beyond the pure provision of finance by engaging all parties concerned to seek appropriate solutions to the problems caused by the global economic crisis.

The IFI initiative has been developed in the broader context of the support that is being provided by parent banks to their subsidiaries in Eastern Europe, to provide capital where needed and maintaining adequate funding levels.

The IFIs welcome the support that that has already been provided to some countries by IMF programmes that have had a clear stabilizing impact and have helped to raise confidence.

The IFIs believe firmly that coordinated action among the IFIs, the bank groups, governments across Europe and the European institutions will help the financial sector in the region emerge robustly from the current crisis.

For the communique by The European Bank For Reconstruction And Development, The European Investment Bank Group, and The World Bank Group please click here

WANTED: The Next Generation of ‘Green’ Entrepreneurs - International Essay Competition

2009-01-14T09:33:09.000Z

Results on the ground: Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project

2008-12-26T10:15:00.000Z

World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program - Call for Applications

2008-12-12T17:07:34.000Z

Bank Internship Program

2008-12-12T16:47:12.000Z

Consultations on the Bank Web Site

2008-12-09T15:37:38.000Z

Dear reader,

A few years ago, the World Bank’s Web site was noted as a leader among development organizations’ websites. As technology has rapidly advanced and user expectations evolved, our Web site too needs to change and adapt.

You come to our Web site because you are looking for the latest information on development. Our project information, data and research assist you in tackling your challenges or keeping up on the Bank’s activities.

Now we’re catching up. We are revamping our Web site and expanding our online capabilities to better satisfy our business needs and meet audience demands.

We’re examining all aspects of the site—content, technology, business needs and audience demands—to figure out what needs to stay, be improved or be removed.

This is a complex undertaking. We are currently gathering information to determine requirements for our future site.

Through our open online consultation, we are looking for comments from anyone who wishes to discuss their information needs and any difficulties they encounter with the site. The online consultation period ends on December 31, 2008.

All feedback we receive will inform the future design and functionality of the Web site by informing Bank management on audience needs.

Our ultimate goal is to make the Web site better support the institution’s mission of fighting global poverty and helping countries develop.

Your feedback will bring us closer to this goal.

Thank you,

Angie Gentile
Managing Editor, www.worldbank.org

The project Water Supply and Sanitation Project has changed to Active

2008-10-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project Water Supply and Sanitation Project has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Belarus development objective is to improve the quality, efficiency and sustainability of water supply and wastewater treatment services in six participating Oblasts covering about 1.7 million consumers. There are three components to the project. The first component of the project is rehabilitation of water supply and sanitation systems. This component will finance investments in water supply and sanitation sector in the six Oblasts of Gomel, Mogilev, Brest, Grodno, Minsk, and Vitebsk. The second component of the project is support to the preparation and sustainability of investments. This component of the project is strives to strengthen the efficiency, governance, and sustainability of the service provision. The feasibility studies and detailed designs for sub-projects selected for funding by the ministry of housing and utilities (MHU) will be financed under this component. The third component of the project is project implementation and management. A project coordination team (PCT) will be established and this component will fund training of the PCT and auditing requirements. The staffing costs for the PCT will be financed by the government.

The project Energy Efficiency is now in the pipeline.

2008-03-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project Energy Efficiency is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Global Environment Facility Climate Change Enabling Activity has changed to Closed

2007-12-17T05:00:00.000Z

The project Global Environment Facility Climate Change Enabling Activity has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Persistant Organic Pollutants (POPs) Environmental Assessment TA GEF Partnership has changed to Closed

2007-12-17T05:00:00.000Z

The project Persistant Organic Pollutants (POPs) Environmental Assessment TA GEF Partnership has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project - Add'l Financing has changed to Active

2007-12-07T05:00:00.000Z

The project Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project - Add'l Financing has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

This Project Paper seeks the approval of the Executive Directors to provide additional financing to Belarus for the Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project (P044748). The proposed additional loan would be used to complete the rehabilitation of the original investment program for energy efficiency improvements in social sector buildings (schools and hospitals) across Belarus. Higher than estimated bid prices on the energy efficiency improvements due to the strong Euro and increases in wages in Belarus forced the implementing agencies to reduce the number of buildings covered in the original project. Additional energy efficiency retrofitting in about 140 buildings (schools and hospitals) across Belarus shall be implemented, including required consultants and support to the project management unit (PMU). The PMU has been funded from the government energy efficiency budget.

The project Global Environment Facility Climate Change Enabling Activity is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-27T04:00:00.000Z

The project Global Environment Facility Climate Change Enabling Activity is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Persistant Organic Pollutants (POPs) Environmental Assessment TA GEF Partnership is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-27T04:00:00.000Z

The project Persistant Organic Pollutants (POPs) Environmental Assessment TA GEF Partnership is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project POST CHERNOBYL RECOVERY PROJECT is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project POST CHERNOBYL RECOVERY PROJECT is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Ozone-Depleting Substances Phase-Out GEF Project is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Ozone-Depleting Substances Phase-Out GEF Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Forest Biodiversity Protection GEF Project is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Forest Biodiversity Protection GEF Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Forestry Development Project is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Forestry Development Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The Forestry Development Project entails: (a) sector policy reform: to effect real price increases in the stumpage fees, introduce open market pricing, liberalize both the international trade and the domestic market for wood and wood products, and prepare MinFor enterprises for future privatization; (b) production support: implementation of intensified silviculture; creation of seed facilities; provision of harvesting equipment and spare parts; and introduction to efficient harvesting practices; (c) forest fire protection: provision of adequate protection against forest fires and prevention of the spread of radionuclide contamination through forest fires; and (d) forest ecology: policy for the preservation of biodiversity and species mix; monitoring of forestry air pollution and radionuclide contamination; monitoring of fuelwood utilization; assessment of the ecological impact of the harvest and maintenance systems; improve MinFor regulatory functions and enforcement; and planning of wetland, drained wetlands and Chernobyl-contaminated forest resources. In addition, the project will entail: (e) institution building: professional training in forestry and business; preparation for operations with an open market economy; forestry research planning of forestry higher education reforms; and (f) technical assistance engineering and testing of manufacturing prototypes; computerized planning system for forestry resource management; and upgrading forestry resource planning, staff training, project management and audit.

The project Institution Building Loan Project is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Institution Building Loan Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Rehabilitation Loan Project is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Rehabilitation Loan Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project - Add'l Financing is now in the pipeline.

2007-10-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project - Add'l Financing is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database