WB sets $1b for the poor

WB sets $1b for the poor

JAKARTA (JP): The World Bank will provide US$1 billion to
launch an employment safety net for low-income people currently
hit by the economic crisis, the bank's country director for
Indonesia Dennis de Tray said yesterday.

De Tray said the bank's funding would be used to support two
public works programs currency being developed by the National
Development Planning Board.

"We hope to put in a very substantial amount of money of
between US$300 million and $500 million in each," de Tray told
journalists after addressing a luncheon hosted by the Indonesian-
Australian Business Council.

He said the bank's funds would be used to underwrite the
government's own investment. The government itself would
therefore put its money into the programs.

"We try to help provide something like a safety net for the
very poorest Indonesians in rural and urban areas currently hit
by the crisis," he added.

He said the programs were basically small-scale rural and
urban infrastructure projects, which were labor intensive.

"We are trying to redirect our resources for existing urban
projects to underwrite simple labor intensive public works, like
cleaning canals and so forth, to provide emergency employment for
those people being laid off from construction projects." (rid)