World Bank group, one of the biggest international financial institutions, has granted Romania some USD 15 billion worth of financing in the 25 years since it opened its resident office in Bucharest.

“To date we have provided over USD 12.5 billion dollars for more than 95 projects, with our colleagues in the International Finance Corporation contributing another USD 2.5 billion to support long-term finance in another 80 projects. Our technical assistance, studies and analysis are too many to count. We have transferred knowledge and we have learned a lot from Romania and spread such knowledge elsewhere,” Elisabetta Capannelli, World Bank Country Manager for Romania and Hungary, wrote in a blog post.

Romania joined the World Bank in 1972, but the institution opened its first office in Romania in 1991 after the fall of communism. The first World Bank Country Manager for Romania was German Arna Hartmann.

The World Bank’s first loan to Romania was a USD 180 million financing granted in 1991. It provided the Romanian Government with foreign exchange for the import of essential spare parts and equipment for the irrigation, telecommunications, power, lignite, petroleum, gas, and transportation sectors.

“The Bank’s role has changed, grown and adapted in this time. It went from helping Romania overcome the difficult economic transition in the 1990s, to supporting the EU membership goal in the 2000s, to helping withstand the crisis of 2008, and to helping Romania rethink the way its public administration can better serve its citizens and businesses and access global knowledge and reform solutions for achieving faster EU convergence,” Capannelli wrote.

The World Bank’s 25th anniversary in Romania will be marked with a conference hosted by Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis at the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest on November 1.

World Bank, which has its headquarters in Washington, US, is an international financial institution whose declared goal is to reduce poverty and help developping countries.

Romania gets another EUR 48 mln from World Bank to fight nitrate pollution

editor@romania-insider.com