WASHINGTON, March 9, 2023-The First Green Transition Programmatic Development Policy Loan was approved today by the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors, providing EUR 149.9 million (US$160 million equivalent) in support of Serbia's bolstered efforts to strengthen its public sector institutions on a path to achieving resilient, greener, and more inclusive economic growth that is sustainable across generations.
"The Government of Serbia has taken a major step forward on the journey to making the green transition a reality and this budget support operation is designed to strengthen those efforts,'' said Nicola Pontara, World Bank Country Manager for Serbia. "Creating and sustaining opportunities, while innovating toward cleaner and more resilient economic growth may be challenging but also rewarding.''
The loan is the first in a programmatic series of two operations. It supports policy and institutional reforms to better align fiscal management with the green agenda by increasing the transparency of budgetary spending on climate-related activities and on the environment. It aims to accelerate the clean energy transition through energy market reforms to make the national energy utility, EPS, sustainable and through a faster adoption of renewables while protecting energy-vulnerable consumers. It also helps Serbia to align its domestic legislation with European Union standards on climate and environment action, with emphasis on waste and air quality management.
The loan has been prepared in partnership with the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement, AFD) and the German Development Bank (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, KfW), each of which will also be providing financing to the Government of Serbia.
