প্রকাশ: 03/03/2022
The World Bank said on Wednesday it had stopped all programs
in Russia and Belarus with immediate effect, following the Russian invasion of
Ukraine and "hostilities against the people of Ukraine."
In a statement, the multilateral development bank said it
had not approved any new loans to or investments in Russia since 2014, the year
Russia annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine.
The bank said it had not approved any new lending to Belarus
since mid-2020, when the United States imposed sanctions on the country over a
disputed presidential election.
The World Bank's lending commitments to Belarus totaled $308
million in 2020, according to the bank's website, with active projects
including a biomass heating project, forestry development work and education
modernizations.
The World Bank has loaned more than $16 billion to Russia
since the early 1990s. The most recent projects approved including a youth
program in the North Caucasus in 2013 and a cultural heritage program dating
back to 2010, the bank's website showed.
The decision to halt all programs in Russia and Belarus came
a day after the leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
said they were racing to provide billions of dollars of additional funding to
Ukraine in coming weeks and months, warning the war could result in
"significant spillovers" to other countries.
The European Union, the United States, Britain and others
have hit Russia with a wide range of sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine.
They have also imposed asset freezes, travel bans and other
restrictions on numerous Russian individuals including President Vladimir Putin
himself.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation.”
- Reuters
প্রধান সম্পাদকঃ সৈয়দ বোরহান কবীর
ক্রিয়েটিভ মিডিয়া লিমিটেডের অঙ্গ প্রতিষ্ঠান
বার্তা এবং বাণিজ্যিক কার্যালয়ঃ ২/৩ , ব্লক - ডি , লালমাটিয়া , ঢাকা -১২০৭
নিবন্ধিত ঠিকানাঃ বাড়ি# ৪৩ (লেভেল-৫) , রোড#১৬ নতুন (পুরাতন ২৭) , ধানমন্ডি , ঢাকা- ১২০৯
ফোনঃ +৮৮-০২৯১২৩৬৭৭