WORLD BANK GRANTS US$ 150 MILLION RECONSTRUCTION LOAN TO BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Jan 24 (Hina) - Head of the Sarajevo-based World Bank Office, Rory O'Sullivan, today confirmed that the Bank had granted a US$ 150 million loan for the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Such assistance was quite exceptional, since Bosnia was not a World Bank member, Sullivan said, adding that the admittance process was likely to be completed by March. "This shows how much the entire international community, including the World Bank, cares about the reconstruction of Bosnia," he said. Out of the allocated sum, 25 million dollars would be given as a non-repayable emergency loan, and the rest would be granted as an interest-free loan with a 40-year repayment period and a 10-year grace period. The consequences of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina were extremely grave and it would be very hard to compensate for all the damage, O'Sullivan warned. No exact cost analyses had been made so far, but according to some estimates, the material damage over the past four years totalled at least US$ 25 billion. According to the estimates of international monetary institutions and governments willing to finance reconstruction projects, US$ 5.1 billion would be needed for the reconstruction of infrastructure and public buildings in Bosnia-Herzegovina. (hina) as 241512 MET jan 96