WASHINGTON, November 20, 2008—The Government of the Slovak Republic and the World Bank have exchanged letters to mark the formal graduation of the Slovak Republic from borrower status. Mr. Ján Počiatek, Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic hosted a graduation ceremony to celebrate the occasion, which was attended by senior Government officials and Ms. Orsalia Kalantzopoulos, World Bank Director for Central Europe and the Baltic Countries.

“The pace of transformation in Slovakia during the past 20 years has been extraordinary and the gains remarkable,” said Kalantzopoulos. “Graduation from World Bank financing and becoming a donor country is a special transition for Slovakia. The country is now set to play an important role in advancing global priorities such as fighting poverty, protecting the environment, and sharing lessons of experience and good practices with other countries that still face large development challenges.” 

“Over the past 15 years, the World Bank has assisted us with complex reforms by providing financial, technical and know-how assistance, which was very important to us,” said Mr. Počiatek, Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic. “Going forward, we would be interested in continuing technical co-operation with the World Bank, especially in human resources and institutional strengthening.”

Gino Alzetta, Alternate Executive Director added “I am particularly happy to see the Slovak Republic join the group of three other countries of our Constituency that have already graduated:  Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.  This comes as recognition of the many efforts deployed on the difficult road leading to a market economy.”

Since the Slovak Republic joined the World Bank in 1993, it has availed itself of analytical and advisory services and loans from the Bank to help achieve its objective of transitioning to a well-functioning market economy with strong institutions. Since the Slovak Republic became a member of the European Union in 2004, the partnership with the World Bank has focused on measures to implement Slovak’s convergence program.

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Analytical and advisory support from the World Bank, and loans totaling US$574.52 million for 10 operations have supported Slovak Government actions to implement structural reforms, improve public finance management, develop the telecommunications sector, and modernize the health system and social services. Following Slovakia’s graduation, future cooperation with the World Bank will be based on knowledge sharing and partnership.