Bosnian Highway Backed By $42 Mln Kuwaiti Loan - Officials

Wednesday, Dec 24, 2008

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AFP)--A Kuwaiti government fund has approved a EUR30 million loan to help finance the construction of a key Bosnian highway, officials said Wednesday.

The loan contract, initialed in Sarajevo by representatives of the Kuwait fund for economic development and Bosnia's finance and treasury ministry, was expected to be finalized early next year.

Its funds would go towards construction of a difficult 2.5-kilometer (1.5-mile) stretch of the so-called VC Corridor to link the Hungarian capital Budapest with the Adriatic coast.

Bosnia is still recovering from its brutal 1992-1995 war which claimed at least 100,000 lives and devastated the former Yugoslav republic's economy and infrastructure.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

24-12-08 1329GMT