IFC Helps Expand Access to Pre-school Education in Russia’s Samara Region
Samara, Russia, June 5, 2013
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a long-term loan worth two billion Russian rubles ($63.5 million) to finance the construction and renovation of pre-school, primary, and secondary education infrastructure in the Samara region, expanding access to quality education.
This investment will support the region’s spending program in the education sector in 2012-2016, which aims to build and renovate 51 pre-schools and 11 schools. The program is expected to add about 5,000 new places to the region’s pre-school network and improve learning conditions for about 7,000 children.
“In the Samara region, we pay major attention to social development, including healthcare and education,” said Sergey Kandeev, Deputy Chairman of the regional government and Minister of Finance in Samara. “With IFC finance, we will significantly expand access to modern schools for thousands of children.”
The project will also create jobs for pre-school teachers and caregivers.
“Developing social infrastructure is one of our major priorities in Russia,” said Tomasz Telma, IFC Director for Europe and Central Asia. “We hope that this project will set an example to other regions of Russia looking for opportunities to expand capacity and improve the quality of pre-school, primary, and secondary education.”
Russia became a member and shareholder of IFC in 1993. Since then, IFC has invested more than $10 billion in the country, including $3.2 billion in syndicated loans, and has been involved in 270 projects across a variety of sectors. IFC’s investment portfolio in Russia stands at $2.3 billion.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. In FY12, our investments reached an all-time high of more than $20 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs, spark innovation, and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
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About Samara region
The Samara Region is one of the 83 regions in Russian Federation, is located in the center of the European part of Russia and has a population of 3.2 million people. Samara is one of Russia’s key industrial regions and is highly urbanized, with 80 percent of population living in urban areas and 53
percent of the gross regional product generated by industrial sector. The Region has a strong credit history and an international scale credit rating of ‘BB+” from S&P and ‘Ba1’ from Moody's, both with stable outlook.
