Announcement of the World Bank’s 1981 Annual Report Indicating Mexico Received Over One Billion in World Bank Lending in Fiscal Year 1981

. . ' . . ' ·• , , i ',f;l'OLD' FOR RELEASE ·· f .. ~. \ .. • .. •• • jeWorld Bank ~ 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. •Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. AR 81/11 EMBARGO: For publication on Monday September 21, 1981 MEXICO RECEIVED OVER ONE BILLION IN WORLD BANK LENDING FISCAL YEAR 1981 Largest Recipient of World Bank Assistance in Latin America M~xico was the largest recipient of World Bank lending in Latin America during Fiscal Year 1981, according to the World Bank's 1981 Annual Report released today. Seven loans totalling $1,081 million were made by the Bank to Mexico during the 12-month period ending in June 1981. This is the largest lending commitment by the World Bank to Mexico in one fiscal years It represents about one third of total Bank lending to the Latin American region during Fiscal Year 1981, which also reached a record level, of $3 , 154 • 1 mi 11 i on • Most of the Bank lending to M,xico was for agricultural development. Three loans for a total of $628 million were to assist an agricultural credit project, the Ocoroni Irrigation Project, and the development of rainfed areas, wfth a total cost of over $2 billion. Two other loans, for a total of $164 million, supported two projects costing over $1.5 billion in the transportation sector, assisting the rehabili- tation of a railway network and the preparation of a port development program. Loans for urban water supply and sewerage ($125 million) and for urban develop- ment ($164 million) were also approved during the fiscal year. Mexico's development efforts have been supported by the world Bank since January 1949. During the past 32 years, the World Bank has approved 69 loans amount- ing to $5,194.6 million, which makes M~xico the second largest recipient of the B~nk's assistance in the developing world. The main objectives of World Bank lending in Mexico have been to support poli- cies and programs leading to a wider distribution of the benefits of economic growth; and to help finance projects that make, directly or indirectly, significant contri- butions to output and employment. Other important objectives of Bank lending to Mexico have been to help reduce the country's urban-regional imbalances and help break bottlenecks preventing more rapid growth. The World Bank has preferentially supported projects of high social priority that help the rural or urban poor, projects that promote higher levels of employment and production, and those that help to decentralize economic activity. I . .• NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents.  -2- The Bank is now concentrating on the institution-building aspects of the projects. it finances and on the development of suitable sectoral and economic policies through regular discussions with the authorities. Some 43% of Bank lending has been for agriculture and rural development (23 loans for $2,246.5 million), 16% for industry (12 loans for $852 million), 16% for transportation (15 loans for $831.8 million), and 14% for power (11 loans for $714.8 million). The remaining 11% has been for water supply and sewerage ($255 million), urban development ($180.5 million)~ and tourism ($114 million) projects. Agricultural Development In July 1980, Mexico received a $325 million loan to help finance the seventh agricultural credit project. The loan was to provide medium- and long-term credit for investment in crop development, livestock production, fisheries and agro- industries. The project is expected to benefit directly about 140,000 farm families. A second loan of $23 million was to help finance the Ocoroni Irrigation Project, in the state of Sinaloa. The project aims at increasing agricultural production by bringing 10,000 hectares of new lands under irrigation, benefiting.2,000 farm families, member of ejidos or communal land tenure groups. The third loan for the agricultural sector, of $280 million, was to support Me'xico•s National Program for Assistance to Rainfed Areas (PLANAT). The project will increase farm productivity in nine rainfed districts of different ecological zones in the country. • Transportation Improvement M:xico's efforts to improve the transportation sector was also supported by the World Bank. A loan of $150 million was made last December to help finance the re- habilitation of the largest railway network in the country, Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico, to meet ~he demands of a rapidly growing economy. A $14 million Bank loan was made to assist in the planning, study, and desigr. of a port development program. The proje·ct supported by the Bank wi 11 provide the basis for the future construction of two new ports on the Gulf Coast, at Altamira and Laguna de Ost ion; and the expans ton of the ports at Lazaro Cardenas and Sa 1i na Cruz, on the Pacific Coast. Urban Development An urban and regional development project a1m1ng at providing better shelter and basic urban services to low-income groups in the most important urban centers of the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and Veracruz was assisted by a Bank loan of $164 million. The project is expected to benefit 95,000 households, or more than half a million people. Finally, over a million people in several medium-size cities in Mexico will. benefit from a water supply and sewerage project assisted by a World Bank loan of $125 million. Among the cities benefiting from the project are Monclova, Nogales, • Tepic, Toluca, Ciudad Juarez, Matamoros, and Quere'taro. - 0 -  WORLD BANK LENDING TO M~XICO (June 30, 1981) Sector Loans Original Amount* Agriculture and Rural Development 23 $2,246.5 Industry 12 852.0 Power 11 714.8 Tourism 3 114.~ Transportation 15 831.8 Urban Development 2 1ao.s Water Supply and Sewerage 3 255.0 69 $5,194.6 *Original commitments, in milions uf U.S. dollars.