World Bank discusses new country assistance strategy

In an effort to improve living standards for the people of Turkmenistan, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has discussed and broadly endorsed the programme contained within a new country assistance strategy for the fiscal year 2001 to 2003, the bank announced on Wednesday. The five key priorities of the programme include strengthening public resource management, improving health and social services, developing an efficient rural economy, supporting private sector development, and protecting the environment and conserving water. Concerned about the slow pace of reforms in Turkmenistan and the lack of transparency, the bank’s board will initially work to build a foundation of economic capacity and transparency through policy dialogue and non-lending analytic support. Areas of support include debt and budget management, the introduction of international accounting principles, finalising a public procurement law, and helping to host a national economic forum to facilitate information sharing. The announcement added that the bank would assist on monitoring living standards, the environment, and private sector development, with supervision of on-going projects remaining a priority. Although it would be difficult for the bank to extend new lending in the near term given policy, financial and legal issues, it would however, extend a small one to three loan programme over three years if key conditions were met, including progress on budget and debt management and reform of the foreign exchange reserve fund, the announcement said.