The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector lending arm, will lend 45 million euros ($56.3 million) to MK Group d.o.o., a Serbian foodmaker, to modernize and expand production.

Part of the long-term financing will also be used to upgrade meat producer and grain trader Carnex AD, which MK Group acquired in November, the IFC said in an e-mail today.

The loan agreement, to be signed tomorrow in Belgrade, should help Serbia, where agriculture accounts for about a fifth of economic output, increase its food production and exports, the lender said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gordana Filipovic in Belgrade at gfilipovic@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Crosby at acrosby1@bloomberg.net