PODGORICA (Montenegro), May 14 (SeeNews) – Montenegro's government said it signed a 250 million euro ($299.6 million) facility agreement with the World Bank to support the country's fiscal policy measures.
The arrangement is supported by the World Bank Policy-Based Guarantee (PBG1) and will be repaid in 12 years, including a four-year grace period, with an interest rate equal to six-month Euribor plus 2.95 percentage points, the government said in a statement on Friday.
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will be a guarantor of the loan, while Credit Suisse, OTP Group, Crnogorska Komercijalna Banka and Societe Generale will act as lenders, the government said.
"We welcome the commitment of the government and the activities that you are taking to bring Montenegro back to a sustainable macro-fiscal path. We firmly believe that this is a prerequisite for the further development of the economy and the release of the private sector potential to create new and better jobs," Emanuel Salinas, World Bank Country Manager for Montenegro, said in the statement.
Last week, the World Bank affirmed Montenegro's economic growth at 2.8% in 2018 on the back of public investments and personal consumption. Montenegro's growth will slow to 2.5% in 2019 and 2.1% a year later, as the construction of a key highway connecting the Adriatic Port of Bar to the border with Serbia approaches completion, the World Bank said.
($ = 0.8345 euro)