The Austrian Minister of Finance, Dr. Androsch, and the President of the World Bank, Mr. McNamara, today signed an agreement for a loan from the Republic of Austria to the World Bank. The signing ceremony took place in Nairobi where the World Bank is holding its Annual 1eeting.
Following a proposal by Dr. Androsch at last year’s Annual Meeting of the World Bank in Washington that the dollar overhang in central banks should be used for development aid at concessionary terms, the Austrian Government will now make available to the World Bank United States dollars in the equivalent of Austrian schillings 600 million (approximately dollars thirty-three million). The loan will be taken down in two equal tranches in October 1973 and January 1974. Each tranche will have a final maturity of fifteen years and will be repayable in ten about equal yearly instalments after a five-year grace period. The interest rate will be four per cent per annum. Given their concessionary nature, the loan terms meet the requirements for official development assistance as defined by the OECD Development Assistance Committee.
