PRISTINA, June 2, 2022 – Anna Bjerde, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia, is visiting Kosovo to better understand the country’s growth opportunities and challenges, and to discuss the government’s long-term development vision, as well as the World Bank’s support going forward.
“For Kosovo to have consistently strong growth that is resilient and that creates high quality jobs, Kosovo needs to improve productivity, address infrastructure bottlenecks, create an environment that is more conducive to the private sector and invest in its own people,” said Anna Bjerde, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia.
During her visit, Anna Bjerde met with Albin Kurti, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, as well as other Government Ministers, diplomats and development partners. Anna Bjerde also discussed current and future socio-economic challenges with a group of Kosovo civil society organizations at a round-table in North Mitrovica.
“With ongoing inflationary pressures, the impact of the war in Ukraine on the economies around the world and fiscal buffers depleted with COVID19 response, global experience clearly shows the importance of well-targeted and fiscally sustainable social protection policies to protect the poorest and most vulnerable,” noted Anna Bjerde.
During her stay in Kosovo, Ms. Bjerde visited the former mines of Kosovo Energy Corporation to learn first-hand about Kosovo’s environmental challenges. When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, the World Bank reacted immediately to help Kosovo save lives, protect medical workers, and detect, prevent, and respond to the spread of COVID-19. To learn more about the difficulties the health sector was facing, and about improvements brought about through World Bank-financed interventions, Ms. Bjerde also visited the regional hospital in South Mitrovica, where she met local doctors and medical technicians.
The World Bank will continue to support Kosovo in moving on a path toward more sustainable, export-oriented, and inclusive growth to provide its citizens with more opportunities for a better life. The Bank has started the process of preparing its new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Kosovo for the period 2023-2027, which will lay out the main development objectives to be supported.
In May 2022, the active World Bank lending portfolio amounted to $379.55 million, across 11 projects in the areas of energy, agriculture, water, health, competitiveness, finance, information and communications technology (ICT), social assistance, and cadaster reform. Since 1999, the World Bank has provided and/or managed over $500 million for Kosovo through more than 40 operations, including trust funds. Kosovo continues to be eligible for concessional credit financing.
