International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Extract

The eleventh annual report of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was presented to the Board of Governors on September 25, 1956, covered the activities of the Bank for the period July 1, 1955—June 30, 1956. During the year under review, the Bank had made 26 loans, totalling the equivalent of $396 million, in 20 countries and territories, in six of which the Bank had not lent before. Lending since the Bank had begun its operations totaled the equivalent of $2,720 million ($2,667 million net of cancellations and refundings) in 42 countries. About 70 percent of the total loaned during the year under review had been directed toward the development of electric power and the improvement of transportation. Notable features in the year's lending operations had been the increased activity of the Bank in Asia, where lending totaled $166 million, the size of the projects assisted, and the extent to which the loans had supported programs rather than single projects.