Asia-Pacific region gets most WB loans

Asia-Pacific region gets most WB loans

HONG KONG (Reuter): The East Asia and Pacific region was the
top recipient of World Bank loans in the fiscal year ended June
30, receiving US$5.42 billion, or 25 percent, of the US$21.4
billion in total lending, the Bank said yesterday.

The region, which ranked second last year in terms of Bank
lending, benefited from US$4.25 billion in market-rate loans made
through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD) and US$1.2 billion in concessionary loans through the
International Development Association (IDA).

New IBRD commitments in fiscal year 1996 financed 26 projects
and IDA loans funded 14 projects. Joint IBRD and IDA funds
supported five additional projects, the World Bank said.

China was the World Bank's biggest borrower in 1996 fiscal
year, with US$2.97 billion in total loans targeting 16 projects.

Indonesia remains the second-largest borrower in the region
and fifth largest in the Bank, with a total of 11 projects
financed by US$991.7 million in IBRD loans in 1996 fiscal year.

World Bank lending to Vietnam, which resumed in 1993 after a
15-year pause, received US$502.2 million in IDA loans in 1996
fiscal year, ranking third in the region and tenth in the world
in terms of Bank lending.

The remainder of the Bank's lending in the region financed
development projects in the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia,
Laos, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea.

The largest portion of World Bank loans to East Asia and the
Pacific financed projects in the energy sector, with US$1.68
billion (31 percent). The transportation sector received the next
largest share with US$916.9 million (17 percent), with
agriculture (US$865.6 million, or 16 percent) and urban
development (US$524.7 million, or 9.7 percent) following.