Tokyo, Oct 01: The World Bank has estimated that it will cost over $50 billion to rebuild Iraq in the next four years, Japanese media reported on Wednesday. The bank believes around $17.5 billion will be needed for 2004 and roughly $37.5 billion for the years between 2005 and 2007, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun financial daily said.
The paper added that the World Bank, along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), had informed Japan and other nations of the figures.
World Bank President James Wolfensohn said last week that the bank would not make any estimates public until it had finished consulting on the issue with Iraq representatives by early October.

But he added that US reconstruction estimates of between $50 billion and $75 billion were "in the ballpark".
The Nihon Keizai said the World Bank would officially present the estimates at a donors' meeting to be held in Madrid on October 23-24.
Bureau Report