The Bank of Japan and the World Bank signed an agreement today, March 19, 1971, in Tokyo, for a loan to the World Bank of Yen 36,000,000,000 (U.S. $100,000,000 equivalent). This loan carries interest at the rate of 7.43% per annum and will be repaid in three equal installments from March 1975 to March 1976. The agreement was signed by Mr. Shiro Inoue, Executive Director of the Bank of Japan, and Mr. S. Aldewereld, the World Bank's Vice-President -- Finance, at the Bank of Japan's head office.
This is the fourth loan the Bank of Japan has granted to the World Bank. In 1970 the Bank of Japan granted two loans to the World Bank that aggregated Yen 72,000,000,000; and in January 1971 a third loan of Yen 36,000,000,000 was granted.
In commenting on the new loan, Robert s. McNamara, President of the World Bank, expressed his "deep appreciation of the support given to the Bank by the Government of Japan and the Bank of Japan". Mr. McNamara added that "Japan has made a significant contribution to the financing of World Bank operations". Today's transaction brings to Yen 144,000,000,000 (U.S. $400,000,000 equivalent) the amount of funds lent by the Bank of Japan to the World Bank. In addition to supplying these new funds, the Bank of Japan has also increased the World Bank's lendable resources by purchasing more than $160,000,000 of the outstanding debt of the World Bank's Japanese borrowers.
