The World bank Group has criticized Bulgarian media outlets who published Thursday what they describe as comments by WB Country Manager Tony Thompson.

Several Bulgarian websites and print media outlets reported him as saying at an economic forum in Sofia, Bulgaria, that if a foreign or local company in Bulgaria wants to succeed it has to avoid interaction with state institutions and minimize contracts and relations with the market powers-that-be.

According to a statement the World Bank sent out to the media, however, that was a "highly distorted quote" that the international institution regrets to find out.

"We tried to clarify his statement approaching the source web agency, but they refused to correct the quote. We are disappointed that certain parties in the media have chosen to abuse their freedom of speech rights by distorting his message. It is absolutely not acceptable to take out of the context a summary of opinions and attribute it as a statement of a World Bank official," the World Bank goes on.

It adds that "Mr Thompson values deeply the close working relationship and the excellent collaboration" with the government of Bulgaria.

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