Announcement of Consortium Communique on Aid to India on June 5, 1963

INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR WORL RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMEN.T • 1818 H INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION STREET, N.W. WASHINGTON 2 5, 0. C. TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 63/20 Subject: Consortium Communique IDA Press Release No. 63/8 on Aid to India Wednesday, June 5, 1963 The Consortium of governments and institutions interested in development assistance to India held its eighth meeting in Paris on June 4 and 5, 1963 under the chairmanship of the World Bank. The meeting was attended by repre- sentatives of the Governments of Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States and by representatives of the World Bank and the International Development Association • (IDA).. The International Monetary Fund sent an observer. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss aid for India during 1963/e+, the third year of Indte.'s Third Five-Year Plan. The Consortium had heici pre- liminary discussions on the same subject in Washington on April 30-May 1. At the beginning of the Third Plan the Government of India assessed the total requirement of' external assistance from all sources, including non- Consortium countries and private foreign i.nvestment, at $5,460 million. Against this, the members of the Consortium have already pledged $2,365 million of aid to India for the first two years of the Third Plan. At the meeting jutft con- cluded, they undertook to make additional aid available for commitment during the third year of the Plan in the amount of about $915 million, subject as appropriate to legislative action or other necessary authorization. The new • pledges for 1963/64 are as follows~ Countries - 2 - Pledges ($ m,illion equivalent)' • Austria J.85 Belgium 10.00 Canada 30.so France 20.00 Germany 65.35 Italy 35.00 Japan 60.00 Netherlands 11.10 United Kingdom 84.00 United States 375.00 World Bank and IDA 220.00 TOTAL 914.80 Some members of the Consortium said that they might be in a position to increase their pledges later in the year. On the initiative of the United States Government, it was accordingly agreed that the meeting should be re- convened in Washington in July to consider additional pledges for 1963/64. Depending on the amount of additional pledges forthcoming from other sources, the United States repr~sentative indicated that his Government would be pre- • pared to raise its own pledge for the year up to a max:iJnum of $450 million. The Consortium considered it to be of the greatest importance that the pledges announced at the meeting should be translated into firm commitments as so.on as possible, and that a substantial part of the$e commitments should be in the form of non-project aid which could be used to finance imports required for the maintenance of the Indian economy. The Consortium also recognized the need to extend as much of the aid as possible in the fonTt of grants or long- tenn loans at low rates of interest. Several members of the Consortium an~ nounced that their aid for 1963/64 would be on more .favorable terms than in previous years. •