World Bank releases delayed money for Ecuador

Ecuador Reuters, 03.26.03, 4:46 PM ET WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - The World Bank said on Wednesday it is set to release a delayed $30 million loan for Ecuador, paving the way for the institution to consider a new lending program of up to $1 billion for the country through 2006. The loan tranche had previously been held up partly due to the country's failure to reach agreement on a loan program with the International Monetary Fund, a World Bank source said. Ecuador and the IMF announced last Friday they had struck a deal on a $205 million loan. "The Ecuadorean Government has shown a solid commitment to ensuring fiscal control, which allows the Bank to move forward with disbursement," Marcelo Giugale, Director of the World Bank's program in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela said in a statement. "It has also taken significant steps to strengthen the country's banking system, and to protect spending that helps the poor." The $30 million loan tranche, which was supposed to have been paid out last year, is the final disbursement of a $101 million structural adjustment loan to the country. The last disbursement came in June 2001. The World Bank source told Reuters the bank is considering an overall lending program of up to $1 billion over the next three years. Bank officials are expected to further discuss the program with finance officials from Ecuador during the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF next month. The program is then expected to be put up for discussion by the bank's decision-making executive board before the end of the June. "The Ecuadorean government's approach combines a focused effort to achieve macroeconomic stability, with an equally determined attack on poverty," said the World Bank's Representative in Ecuador, McDonald Benjamin. The World Bank's current portfolio in Ecuador includes 13 projects worth a total of $356 million in commitments.