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World Bank, IMF unveil 9.25 billion dollar loan for Iraq
Madrid, Oct 24: The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today unveiled a loan package for Iraq worth up to a total of 9.25 billion dollars over five years to aid reconstruction of the country`s war-shattered economy.
Madrid, Oct 24: The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today unveiled a loan package for Iraq worth up to a total of 9.25 billion dollars over five years to aid reconstruction of the country's war-shattered economy.
As more than 70 donor nations outlined their own pledges here, World Bank president James Wolfensohn said the international community had to rebuild a "depressed" society
that was "really on its back" and said the organisation would pledge loans of up to five billion dollars over the next five years.
The IMF weighed in with a package worth up to a maximum 4.25 billion dollars over a three-year period.
Wolfensohn called on countries to forget past differences over Iraq, which the World Bank assesses as needing 36 billion dollars of assistance in the next four years, to which the US-installed Iraqi provisional government adds a further 20 billion.
"It is a country of great potential that needs rebuilding," Wolfensohn said, adding security problems could not be allowed to stand in the way of a reconstruction programme.
Bureau Report
The IMF weighed in with a package worth up to a maximum 4.25 billion dollars over a three-year period.
Wolfensohn called on countries to forget past differences over Iraq, which the World Bank assesses as needing 36 billion dollars of assistance in the next four years, to which the US-installed Iraqi provisional government adds a further 20 billion.
"It is a country of great potential that needs rebuilding," Wolfensohn said, adding security problems could not be allowed to stand in the way of a reconstruction programme.
Bureau Report