The World Bank has decided to provide 38.6 millions U.S. dollars to finance four projects in Madagascar.

The World Bank's board of directors agreed on Wednesday to provide the island country 38.6 million dollars through the International Development Association (IDA), a news daily reported on Thursday.

Among the sum, 5 million dollars would be for development of governance and institutional project, 10 million for health perennial system, 8 million for mineral resources management and the remaining 15.6 million for investments in transport infrastructures, according to Les Nouvelles, or News in English.

The Madagascan government intended to rehabilitate main transport infrastructure around the island country with the World Bank credit to reduce transport cost in its fight against poverty.

The bank also decided to help Antananarivo implement its national strategy and its development plan in health sector with the setup and improvement of perennial health system.

As for the governance and institutional project, the 5 million would concentrate on the development of a follow-up framework.The World Bank financing on mineral resources management system would focus on technical issues, said the Nouvelles.

The contribution of the mining sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) was expected to rise in a significant way in the coming years though it accounted for only some four percent in 2005.

On Tuesday, the World Bank announced that it provided a credit of 5 millions dollars to support microfinance projects in Madagascar.

Source: Xinhua