Washington, 24 March 1997 (RFE/RL) -- The World Bank says the total flow of financial resources into Eastern Europe and the former USSR rose only marginally in 1996. The Bank says there was a rise in official lending and a decline in private investment.
The bank issued its annual report on Global Development Finance last night in Washington. The report says the decline in private investment flows was caused by a drop in net private resources going into Hungary and the Czech Republic, as their markets began to level out to normal levels of foreign investment. And the bank says the drop in investment going into Hungary and the Czech Republic was more than enough to offset "significant increases" in private investment in Poland, Romania and Russia.
The bank's report also notes a decline in foreign investment to Central Asia.