International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

The ninth annual report of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development which was transmitted to the Board of Governors on September 24, 1954, covered the activities of the Bank from July 1, 1953, through June 30, 1954. During this period 24 loans had been made in 16 countries, a total of $324 million the highest for a year period in the Bank's history. In all, the Bank had made 104 loans and $1,914 million of the Bank's funds were committed in 34 countries. Total effective loans outstanding and held by the Bank on June 30 amounted to $1,663 million. The greater part of the year's lending, the Bank reported, had been for improvement in basic services; $119 million had been lent for expanding and improving transport facilities and $107 million for expanding electric facilities. Disbursements during the year had been the equivalent of $302 million on new and existing loans, bringing total Bank disbursements to $1,406 million. Disbursements which borrowers spent in Europe had increased during the year from the equivalent of $68 million in 1952–1953 to $115 million. The report noted the growing importance of operations in currencies other than the United States dollar, as indicated by the increase in the proportion of disbursements repayable in other currencies to 27 percent. This increase, it was reported, reflected the larger sums made available to the Bank from capital subscriptions paid in by members in non-dollar currencies and from borrowing outside the United States. Net income of $20 million was added to the supplemental reserve, increasing it to $97 million; the Special Reserve, to which the one percent commission on outstanding balances of all Bank loans was credited, was increased by $12 million, making a total of $49 million.