World Bank to Help Georgia Increase Investments in Energy

Ivane Matchavariani, Minister of Finance of Georgia, and Mercy Tembon, World Bank’s Regional Director for the South Caucasus, have signed a loan agreement. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to offer a $62 million loan to Georgia to help increase the reliability of the electricity supply and guatantee its financial improvement. The loan was approved by the Executive Directors’ Board of the World Bank on 24 May, 2019.

The project aims to increase the reliability of the electricity supply in Western Georgia, ensure the financial viability of the Georgia State Electrosystem (GSE) and help it in terms of obtaining long-term commercial financing.

“The project will increase the electricity supply reliability and prevent outages across the regions of Georgia. In addition, it will assist GSE to utilize even more domestic and international financing resources,” stated Mercy Tembon. 

“The outcomes of this project have to be reflected on the well-being of our citizens, as well as the productivity of entrepreneurs,” noted Ivane Matchavariani.

The major reforms implemented for the past two decades in the field of energy have successfully been completed. The large-scale regulatory and market reforms, focused on the regulation and privatization, have much contributed to the improvement of the service quality and transparency of the sphere. They also have helped the sector to overcome the financial collapse. The regulatory framework is firm, but some of the challenges still remain. This project is to help the Georgian government to solve them in accordance with the strategies of the power engineering sector.

It is in the full accordance with the strategy of cooperation of the World Bank’s latest Country Partnership Framework 2019-2022 for Georgia and is to assist the country in terms of the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Translated by Ketevan Kvaratskheliya