At the beginning of January 2008, officials announced an electricity price hike of 20 percent to allow the "government [to] repay its debt to the World Bank." According to an official at Barqi Tojik, a national power company, limits will become stricter, and the price for electricity is expected to rise until 2010. On April 2008, Pradeep Mitra, World Bank chief economist for Europe and Central Asia, issued an uncharacteristic statement, urging the worse-hit countries to spend more on social assistance and "top up" their social programs.