The World Bank approved a loan of 149.9 million Euro to support Serbia’s efforts to strengthen public sector institution to achieve sustainable economic growth and help align legislation with the European Union acqui communitaire, a press release said.

“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 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,” it said.

The press release quoted World Bank Country Manager for Serbia Nicola Pontara as saying that the Serbian government has taken a major step forward towards a green transition. „Creating and sustaining opportunities, while innovating toward cleaner and more resilient economic growth may be challenging but also rewarding,’’ he said.

“The loan 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,” it said.

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).