Congratulations to Slovakia!

A press release just yesterday announced that the Slovak Republic graduated from borrower status with the World Bank. The announcement is a welcome bright note in this dark economic environment. It is worthwhile to remember that not very long ago, Madeleine Albright referred to Slovakia as "the black hole of Europe." Just a decade later, Slovakia has seen impressive achievements in economic reform and growth in incomes.

Ján Počiatek, Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic, had this to say:

Over the past 15 years, the World Bank has assisted us with complex reforms by providing financial, technical and know-how assistance, which was very important to us...Going forward, we would be interested in continuing technical cooperation with the World Bank, especially in human resources and institutional strengthening.

Congrats to Slovakia!