World Bank to lend India around USD 9 Billion

The World Bank has plans to donate around USD 9 Billion during the next three years with the aim of helping the country achieve development in rural areas. In addition, Indian government is looking towards accelerating economic growth to reduce the number of people below the poverty line. World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz told reporters at a press conference: “We will be prepared to commit $3 billion a year for the next three years”.

He added that the bank was aiming to “help India sustain its impressive economic growth because without growth it’s not possible to reduce poverty”. The initiative is being led by the prime minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh as the government is planning to spend $40 billion in the next couple of years to improve irrigation, housing, water, electricity, telephones and roads to alleviate rural poverty.

As per the records available with the World Bank, 350 million of India’s 1.1 billion population live on less than one American dollar a day. India government has now aimed at achieving more than 7 percent annually over the next decade. The current rate of growth rate is just below 7% at this moment. Pyaralal Raghavan, an economist at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said about this initiative by the World Bank: “The problem in India has been implementation. With the World Bank’s involvement there will be better evaluation and scrutiny of the projects.”