MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

World Bank has 17 billion US dollars to loan out in Latinamerica

Pamela Cox said the bank has sufficient funding

The World Bank could lend up to 17 billion US dollars to Latinamerican countries in the fiscal year that began this month, the organization’s vice-president for Latinamerica said on Wednesday.

Pamela Cox said the unusually large sum, which matches last year’s record and is nearly three times the historical average, was directly linked to the global financial crisis, which has shut many countries off from international markets.

“Of the 17 billion, 14 billion are directly from the World Bank and the rest from the International Financial Corporation, which is mainly geared to support the private sector, mainly banks”, said Ms Cox after meeting with Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli.

“Latinamerican governments do not have access to capital markets, or have some access but do not want to crowd out the private sector,” Cox told reporters.

Most of the region’s economies have been hit hard by a crisis that began in the United States, although recent indicators have pointed to a possible recovery.

The United Nation’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean predicted on Wednesday that Latin America as a whole should grow 3.1% next year, following the 1.9% contraction it has forecast for this year.

Against that backdrop, Cox said the World Bank has sufficient funding to support high levels of lending for the moment, but added that the future was uncertain beyond that point. “We can’t keep doing this,” she said. “We can keep this up for one more year”.