WB urged to drop commitment fee

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