Provides Macroeconomic Advisory Services and Technical Support
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2012 – The World Bank and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) signed today two agreements for reimbursable services in response to EDB’s request for knowledge transfer and capacity building.
The first agreement envisages collaboration and exchanges between the World Bank and EDB in the area of macroeconomic monitoring and policy analysis, through strategic consultations between World Bank and EDB economists on macroeconomic analysis, outlooks and risks for EDB member countries. This is a multiyear agreement which aims to build EDB’s capacity for in-depth macro-assessments. These are needed both to develop its own lending program and to support its role as the Resource Manager of the EURASEC Anti-crisis Fund (ACF).
The second agreement focuses on the provision of knowledge concerning monitoring and evaluation practices tailored to the needs of EDB operations, which aim to improve the efficiency of project and program monitoring and boost capacity for data and information provision to track implementation results.
“We are very pleased to see stronger collaboration between the World Bank and the Eurasian Development Bank in the important technical aspects of macroeconomic frameworks and results,” said Philippe Le Houérou, World Bank Vice President for Emerging Europe and Central Asia. “This collaboration should ultimately result in better services provided by our two institutions to our common members.”
"In order to maximize the development impact of its operations, the Eurasian Development Bank is tapping the expertise of the World Bank - the leading global development institution, which has accumulated vast knowledge in poverty reduction, institution building and support for reforms in the transition countries." stated Sergei Shatalov, EDB Deputy Chairman. "These two agreements will allow us to draw on the World Bank’s experience as EDB works to create effective anti-crisis stimuli for the economies of our member countries, to strengthen their competitiveness in the global market, and to promote integration between these countries."
Since 2005, in the Emerging Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, the World Bank has been engaged in over 80 advisory services programs provided on reimbursable basis. In fiscal years 2011-12, ECA signed over 30 agreements with a variety of clients in the region, including countries like Albania, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Poland, Slovak Republic and others.
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) was established in 2006, with a statutory capital of over US$1.5 billion, to promote the social and economic development of its member states: Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. EDB provides budget support and financing to investment projects in its member countries mainly in the following sectors: transport and energy infrastructure, agriculture, natural resources, SME and trade finance. As of 29 June 2012, EDB’s active loan portfolio exceeded $3.3 billion.
