EU council approves $64-million loan to Georgia to aid refugees

BRUSSELS, November 19 (RIA Novosti) - The Council of the European Union has granted a 50.7-million euro ($64 million) loan to Georgia to help tackle the country's refugee problem, the organization's press service said on Wednesday.

The loan is intended to finance measures in support of people displaced in Georgia during and after this August's five-day conflict, which began when Georgian forces attacked breakaway South Ossetia.

Amnesty International said on Tuesday that more than 20,000 ethnic Georgians were unable to return to their homes in South Ossetia.

Foreign governments and private businesses pledged to lend or grant Georgia $4.55 billion at an international Donors' Conference for Georgia in Brussels in October. The United States promised to contribute the largest sum - around $960 million - with the EU and Japan to donate $640 million and $192 million, respectively.

Following the August conflict with Russia over Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, the World Bank assessed the Georgian economy's demands for the next three years at $3.2 billion.