WB lends Malaysia $300m

WB lends Malaysia $300m

WASHINGTON (Reuters): The World Bank approved a $300 million loan on Thursday for Malaysia and said the money would help ease the social costs of Asia's economic flu.

The bank said the loan, to be paid in a single instalment, would give Malaysia the budget flexibility it needs to maintain existing spending on health and education and step up the scope of programs to reduce poverty in rural areas.

"Over the past decades Malaysia has made spectacular gains in economic growth and reduction of poverty," country director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement.

"We want to help Malaysia protect those gains by improving economic conditions, stimulating growth and extending assistance to those most vulnerable to the effects of the region's economic crisis."

The bank said the loan, the first World Bank credit to Malaysia for four years, was part of a broad regional strategy to ease the social costs of Asia's economic crisis.