March 27 (SeeNews) - The World Bank said on Monday Serbia should restructure the energy sector and make smart investments in regional transport to promote a sustainable economic growth.
Serbia needs to make deeper reforms to sustain a faster and more inclusive growth, the executive director of the World Bank for India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka, Subhash Garg, said, as quoted in a statement of the lender. Garg was part of an eight-member delegation of the World Bank Group executive directors in Serbia from March 26 to 27, as part of a tour of the Western Balkans focused on energy connectivity.
The executives discussed infrastructure, transport and energy sector reform and prospects for regional energy and transport connectivity with representatives of the Serbian government, community leaders, development partners, and the diplomatic community, the World Bank added.
They visited also power infrastructure supported by the Floods Emergency Recovery Project, and transport infrastructure part of the Corridor X project, both financed by the World Bank.
The World Bank Group has a large lending and guarantee portfolio in Serbia, including International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) financing of $1.65 billion (1.52 billion euro), an International Finance Corporation Portfolio of $230 million, including funds mobilised from its partners, and a Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency portfolio of $807 million.
($ = 0.91838 euro)