13.04.2014

"The Government's policy in respect of fiscal and budget policy is to ensure financial stability and long term sustainability of public finances", stressed Minister of Finance Petar Chobanov in his meetings with the senior management of the World Bank, namely Vice President Laura Tuck, Mamta Murthi, Country Director for Central Europe and the Baltic Countries, the Executive Director of the Constituency of the Netherlands Frank Heemskerk and Markus Repnik, Country Office Manager for Bulgaria. The discussions took place within the spring meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund held in the period 11-13 April 2014 in Washington, USA. During their meeting Minister Chobanov and Ms Laura Tuck expressed their satisfaction with the improvement and development of the partner relations and also conviction that during the forthcoming regular review of the country that the Bank was planning to conduct in close cooperation with the Government, the private sector and other participants, a set of selected priority areas would be set as a starting point for future consultations and cooperation.

Both parties appreciated the constructive and fruitful dialogue in the past year that found expression in higher effectiveness and the very good results achieved as a result of the cooperation between the World Bank and Bulgaria. Minister Chobanov emphasized that that was measured by the successful restructuring and amendment of the loan agreements under two of the projects - the Social Inclusion Project and the Second Trade and Transport Facilitation Project. Forthcoming is the restructuring of the third project from the Bank's portfolio for Bulgaria - on the development of municipal infrastructure. It was noted that all three projects aimed at important social and infrastructure investments. Laura Tuck promised, in the context of the future cooperation with our country, the Bank to provide the expert services of the WB best teams in important for the economy sectors.

The Bulgarian Minister of Finance noted that in the period 2015-2017 the support for developing key national policies in the field of education, employment, and competitiveness of the economy, healthcare and other priority for the country sectors would continue with EU funds. Bulgaria also cooperates with the WB in the field of remunerated consultancy services with the aim to enhance EU funds absorption. Our country benefits from the international institution's high expertise in the water sector through the elaboration of a Strategy on the Water Sector Development and Management for the period 2014-2023 and gets also assistance in the fields of innovation and roads.

The meetings of the headed by the Minister of Finance delegation continue with discussions with the IMF teams and representatives of investment banks and rating agencies.