WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Serbia, which has been pledged $600 million in aid by the World Bank, is pushing for a doubling of that figure and quicker access to the funds it already has been promised. 

Serbia is seeking another $600 million in aid from the World Bank to help finance infrastructure projects and expected budget deficits, Deputy Prime Minister Mladan Dinkic said in an interview Saturday. Dinkic plans to discuss the request with World Bank officials in a meeting Sunday. 

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are holding spring meetings over the course of the weekend. Serbia has made agreements for aid from both institutions. The IMF last month boosted the value of a loan it has promised to the country to $4.1 billion. 

The IMF money, however, cannot be used to finance infrastructure projects, so Dinkic is seeking quicker disbursement of existing World Bank aid. 

"They are extremely slow," he said. "We need money now. This is the only clear anti-recession measure some countries can take." 

The Serbian economy is expected to contract by 2% this year and post no growth in 2010. 

The World Bank funds are slated to fund the construction of a highway that would stretch from the country's border with Hungary to its border with Bulgaria. 

Dinkic wants to begin new construction projects using the funds this fall but under current World Bank procedures doesn't expect it would be possible until the spring of 2010. 

"All the international financial institutions need to shorten their complicated, bureaucratic procedures," he said.