Albania, World Bank join to boost social, health sectors

22/06/2011

The World Bank and Albania sign a $25m loan. Also in business news: a Regional Finance Fair and Matchmaking Event were held in Skopje and the economic downturn in Croatia deepened in the first quarter of 2011.

The project aims to help Albania improve health financing. [Reuters]

Albania and the World Bank signed an agreement on Monday (June 20th) for a Social Sector Reform Development Policy Loan worth $25m. The project aims to help Albania improve the efficiency of its social safety nets and strengthen the effectiveness and equity of health financing.

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Economies in Eastern Europe will have to increase their competitiveness if they want to attract more foreign investments, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its latest Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Outlook presented in Prague on Friday (June 17th). The governments in the region should try to overcome three main obstacles -- poor education, limited access to financing and lack of appropriate incentives.

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Skopje hosted a Regional Finance Fair and Matchmaking Event last week that aimed to bring together businessmen from Southeast Europe with investors and financing institutions. The event, which was co-hosted by USAID, attracted over 100 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia, providing them with an opportunity to explore new financial opportunities and ways to expand business networks in the region.