WB urged to drop commitment fee

JAKARTA: Indebted developing countries have demanded that the World Bank scrap the commitment fees for unused loans committed in 2004, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday.

The demand was made during last week's International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meeting in Washington. The World Bank imposes a commitment fee of 0.5 percent for unused loans committed this year, and plans a fee of 0.35 percent for next year's loan commitments.

The borrowing nations argued that these commitment fees were burdensome for them. The World Bank is expected to make a decision on the issue in June next year. -- JP