World Bank Group to provide $1.7 billion in targeted lending to Armenia over next five years: Head of World Bank Armenia Office

The World Bank will provide Armenia with comprehensive support aimed at developing the country's economy and improving the quality of governance from 2025 to 2029. This is outlined in the new five-year cooperation program with Armenia, approved by the World Bank Group's Board of Executive Directors. Armenpress interviewed Caroline Geginat, Head of the World Bank Armenia Office, about this document, titled "Country Partnership Framework," and the functions arising from it.

-The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a new five-year Country Partnership Framework with Armenia. Can you provide details on this program?

-The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a new five-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF) with Armenia for the period FY25-FY29.This framework aims to deliver a combination of lending, knowledge and technical assistance activities over the upcoming five years that are aimed at helping Armenia further reduce poverty and promote prosperity across the country. The framework will do this through a focus on three main areas: 1) the creation of more and better jobs, 2) improvements to Armenia’s human capital outcomes, and 3) the resilience of the Armenian economyto shocks.Investments will be made in collaboration with the Government of Armenia and private sector firms by all three organizations of the World Bank Group: IBRD, IFC and MIGA. The total targeted lending envelope for the five years is in the order of USD 1.7 billion. 

-Which segments of society is this program aimed at? Who will benefit from it, and on what basis?

-The program aims to benefit various segments of society. Specifically, it targets women and youth, particularly those who currently have high rates of being neither employed nor studying; men, by addressing gaps in life expectancy, mortality, and employment, and the general population, with a focus on job creation, human capital development, and economic resilience.

The framework also prioritizes strengthening Armenia’s social protection system to better support vulnerable populations in times of crisis. By investing in climate-adaptive economic activities and institutional reforms, the CPF aims to create long-term benefits for all Armenians.

-The approved partnership framework aims to help Armenia create more and better jobs, strengthen human capital, and build a more resilient economy by promoting climate-resilient economic activities and enhancing public and institutional systems. This includes public financial management, strategic planning, and governance reforms. What specific steps will be taken to achieve these goals?

-We work closely with the Government of Armenia to strengthen different aspects of public institutions. Currently, our support focuses on providing advice on how to improve public financial management,enhance strategic planning, strengthen human resource management,and advance governance reforms. For example, our analytical work in strategic planning supports the transition from an action-oriented public administration system to one that is results-focused: this could be achieved through improved prioritization of policy objectives, closer alignment of strategic documents, stronger connections between strategies and the budget, and enhanced monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

The World Bank is first of all a knowledge bank, and as suchanalytical support plays an important part in our partnership with any country. We will provide analytical support in the form of Public Expenditure Reviews and a Growth report (which we call the Country Economic Memorandum) to enhance the inclusive growth focus of fiscal policies. Additional public expenditure reviews in agriculture and technical assistance for public financial management and domestic resource mobilizationcan further enhance fiscal performance and service delivery.

To support the Government’s public administration reform and institution building, we alsosupport the creation of a public sector senior management teamand the streamlining of internal processes to advance the Government’s goal of digitizing public service delivery. 

In conclusion, as an integral component of our five-year engagement plan, we are also developing support for the justice sector to enhance efficiency, quality, and accessibility of justice services.

The new strategy emphasizes mobilizing private capital through close cooperation between World Bank Group institutions. The IBRD is expected to provide approximately $1 billion in financing over the next five years to support reforms that will enable IFC and MIGA to attract more private capital. What does this mean in practice, and how will this objective be implemented?

Mobilizing private capital is a key priority for the World Bank Group in Armenia, ensuring that public resources are used strategically to attract greater private sector investment. This involves supporting priority areas with the potential for attracting private financing. Examples include green finance, digital development, and selected areas related to climate resilience, particularly in renewable energy, water, and agriculture.

We also support the Government more broadly in enhancing the competitiveness, productivity, job creation, and foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, and to create a stronger business climate that fosters sustainable development. Additionally, leveraging knowledge and analytics will help inform investment decisions and policy reforms, ensuring a stable and predictable environment for private sector participation.

-It is evident that implementing such ambitious programs requires substantial financial investments. How will the efficient management of these funds be monitored, and what measures will be taken to prevent corruption risks?

-Efficient management of funds and preventing corruption are critical to the success of this program. We have several measures in place to ensure this: strengthening and streamlining the Public Investment Management (PIM) Framework, supporting governance and justice reforms, utilizing data analytics and publicly available data to monitor corruption risks and inform policy decisions.

These steps are designed to ensure that the funds are managed efficiently and that corruption risks are minimized, thereby supporting the successful implementation of the World Bank’s five-year strategic engagement with Armenia.