World Bank strikes Georgia off financing list

The World Bank has excluded Georgia from the list of priority-financing countries, the regional director of the World Bank for South Caucasus countries told reporters. So apart from the fact that Georgia no longer stands a chance to get $40m in the next credit tranche in 2003, the World Bank's financing of 14 Georgian projects will be slashed from $210m to $91m.

Among the reasons for reduced financing cited by the regional World Bank director were the high corruption level in Georgia, the inefficient management of state resources, the lack of coordination in the government's work and a critical criminal situation in the country which has a negative impact on the investment environment.

Georgia's Minister of State Avtandil Dzhorbenadze denied virtually all of the World Bank official's accusations at a briefing held in the State Office. The Minister of State said there was no split in government. According to him, it is working cooperatively, while some troubles Georgia is facing are due to the pre-election situation and the confrontation between the government and parliament.

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