December 14 (SeeNews) - The World Bank said on Friday it was going to provide some $600 million (412.4 million euro) to finance various projects in Serbia by 2011.
"Over the next four years, the Bank anticipates making approximately $600 million in financing available for the Serbian government, on terms comparable to or better than Serbia could gain from almost any other source," the global lender said in a statement.
"This will build on the $740 million the bank has provided to the Serbian government since 2001, mostly in the form of concessional credits," it added.
The bank did not specify the kind of projects it was going to support.
According to the World Bank, over the last six years, average incomes have almost doubled and poverty has declined by more than one third in Serbia, but this progress has been underpinned by major structural economic reform.
It added that the regional stability would be especially important at this time to ensure that Serbia and the region can build on economic gains and move as quickly as possible towards European accession.
On November 7 Serbia and the 27-nation EU initialled a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step towards membership.
($= 0.6873 euro)