Announcement of Zambia Pays Arrears on World Bank Loan on March 13, 1991

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.* Telephone: (202) 477-1234 NEWS RELEASE NO. 91/F37 Contact: Sheldon Rappaport (202) 473-1797 ZAMBIA PAYS ARREARS ON WORLD BANK LOANS WASHINGTON, March 13, 1991 -- The World Bank announced that Zambia today fully paid its arrears of $309 million on World Bank loans and $10 million on IDA credits. Accordingly, the Bank's loans to Zambia no longer are in nonaccrual status. Barber B. Conable, President of the World Bank noted that "in the past 18 months we've worked very closely with the Zambian authorities to assist them in resolving the arrears problem and the relationship has been very cooperative." He said that "much effort has been aimed at assuring solid and well-designed economic policies that address Zambia's underlying development problems." Zambia has taken policy actions reducing the fiscal deficit, restraining monetary growth, liberalizing maize marketing and the foreign exchange market, initiating a program of privatization, and improving the efficiency of public spending. With Zambia's payment of all overdue amounts, the World Bank has ended its suspension of new lending and of disbursements of previously approved IBRD loans and IDA credits to Zambia. The suspension has been in effect since May 1987 and the loans were in nonaccrual status since August 1987. About one-half of the payment to the Bank was for overdue interest and other charges and the rest was for principal. The World Bank is formally known as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The International Development Association is the World Bank affiliate which provides funds on highly concessionary terms to poorer member countries. -0-