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.