The International Finance Corporation (IFC) plans to invest about $40 million in the development of agribusiness in the Mogilev Region of Belarus. According to the World Bank representative in Belarus Craig Bell, the IFC has already invested over $70 million in Belarus.
“The total of $110 million is not so much for the Belarusian economy,” Craig Bell said, “but it shows that the IFC is ready to support the investment process and is looking for new projects in this country.”
He went on to say that the fact that a single person has headed the IFC and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or the World Bank (WB), since September would not bring about any changes in the cooperation strategy. The decision is due to the internal strategy of the World Bank Group and aims at a better coordination of the efforts of the WB Group members. Belarus has become the first country to introduce the new management scheme, as the heads of the two missions completed their tenure at the same time.
The likeliest segments for investment are finance and retailing.
The WB also started drawing up a new framework strategy for cooperation with Belarus — the Country Economic Memorandum, or CEM — for a few years to come. It is planned to complete the CEM in mid-2007
at the latest.
Alexander Sokolov
More Projects Coming
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION PLANS TO INVEST $40 MILLION IN AGRIBUSINESS IN MOGILEV REGION