- Title: SRI LANKA: HEADS OF WORLD BANK AND UNITED NATIONS VISITING SRI LANKA
- Date: 8th January 2005
- Summary: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (JANUARY 8, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV JAMES WOLFENSOHN, HEAD OF THE WORLD BANK, ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE 0.13 2. SLV REPORTERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 0.16 3. MCU (English) JAMES WOLFENSOHN, HEAD OF THE WORLD BANK, SPEAKING ABOUT AID, SAYING: "When we get to the question of reconstruction, what I have told the governments is that we are going to be there for them. We could ourselves go up to one billion (U.S.) dollars I think without any great difficulty in terms of both new and converted funds for this purpose. But I think what we need to look at is -- as a matter of the interests of the countries themselves -- is to see how much ground funding there is available from countries, that is a gift. There's no sense in taking even concessionary funding if we can get gifts or grants and so I am basically reassuring governments that we are there for them with funding from ourselves so they won't be held up, that we will be there to organise funding and that we will participate with governments to seek to maximise the amount of grant funding that is available. And certainly in the near term I do not believe that there is any reason that we cannot proceed in any of the countries to look to funding what is appropriate, that is trying to get the governments to move -- not to restablish slums, or restablish shanty towns, but basically to improve the lives of the people in the communities that have been affected" 1.38 4. SLV/MCU NEWS CONFERENCE (3 SHOTS) 1.53 5. SV VARIOUS OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN, HIS WIFE NAN (BLONDE) AND SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT CHANDRIKA KUMARATUNGA (4 SHOTS) 2.43 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
- Country: Sri Lanka
- Reuters ID: LVA8COFPI7K9UXO1FBLERHAG7NNG
- Story Text: Heads of World Bank and United Nations visiting Sri
Lanka.
The World Bank could hand out up to 1.5 billion U.S.
dollars in tsunami aid if need be, bank President James
Wolfensohn said on Saturday (January 8) during a visit to
Sri Lanka.
But he added that he was concerned how the funds might
be spent.
Wolfensohn toured the tsunami-ravaged south shortly
after a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, then
gave a news conference in which he urged transparency in
how money is spent.
"When we get to the question of reconstruction, what I
have told the governments is that we are going to be there
for them," Wolfensohn said in Colombo.
"We could ourselves go up to one billion (U.S.) dollars
I think without any great difficulty in terms of both new
and converted funds for this purpose. But I think what we
need to look at is -- as a matter of the interests of the
countries themselves -- is to see how much ground funding
there is available from countries, that is a gift.
"There's no sense in taking even concessionary funding
if we can get gifts or grants and so I am basically
reassuring governments that we are there for them with
funding from ourselves so they won't be held up, that we
will be there to organise funding and that we will
participate with governments to seek to maximise the amount
of grant funding that is available," he said.
"And certainly in the near term I do not believe that
there is any reason that we cannot proceed in any of the
countries to look to funding what is appropriate, that is
trying to get the governments to move -- not to restablish slums, or
re
stablish shanty towns, but basically to improve
the lives of the people in the communities that have been
affected, said Wolfensohn.
He added that the World Bank was also considering debt
relief and would address the issue soon.
Sri Lanka itself has more than 600 million U.S. dollars
worth of debt principal payments and debt interest due this
year, Wolfensohn said.
The country's central bank estimates reconstruction and
rehabilitation could cost between 1.3 and 1.5 billion U.S.
dollars in 2005.
The tsunami hit more than a dozen countries, killing
more than 156,000 people overall, two-thirds of whom
perished in Indonesia.
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