Loan to China Approved by World Bank
WASHINGTON — The World Bank’s board, including the United States, unanimously approved a $60-million rural development loan to China on Tuesday, the first of seven loans that were held back after last year’s crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.
Bank President Barber B. Conable said the bank is now back to regular lending to China. The bank made another loan to China earlier this month for earthquake repair.
The World Bank is the largest single source of aid to the Third World, lending over $21 billion a year, and China and India are its biggest borrowers.
The loan approved Tuesday for farming in Jiangxi province will be repayable in 40 years with less than 1% annual interest.
After Conable held back the loans because of the crackdown last June, President Bush asked that lending be suspended. Since then the United States has resumed its own loans to China.
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