The World Bank announced on Sunday a $2 billion development program for Myanmar, including projects to improve access to energy and healthcare in the impoverished former military-ruled nation.

The World Bank announced on Sunday a $2 billion development program for Myanmar, including projects to improve access to energy and healthcare in the impoverished former military-ruled nation.

Bank president Jim Yong Kim, on his first visit to the former pariah state, said half of the funds would be used to expand power supplies, in a country where more than 70 percent of the population does not have access to reliable electricity.

The program also includes $200 million to help Myanmar achieve universal health coverage by 2030, the Bank said, noting that only one in four people in the once-isolated country has access to quality healthcare.

Myanmar last year cleared its arrears to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank with the help of a Japanese bridge loan, enabling the two lenders to resume assistance to the country.

The country was once known as the "rice bowl of Asia" because of its agricultural riches. But economic mismanagement during nearly 50 years of direct military rule left the country deeply impoverished.

Kim is due to meet former general Thein Sein, other members of the government and opposition and business leaders in the capital Naypyidaw where he will also attend a development forum on Monday.