The World Bank today authorized for the first time medium- and long-term floating rate note (FRN) borrowings of U.S. dollars. It also raised the ceiling for its outstanding short-term notes from $2.0 billion to $2. 5 billion.
The FRN borrowings are to be done in the United States and may total $400 million. Interest rates will be set by reference to the U.S. Treasury bill market.
Up to $150 million of the FRN borrowings may be used by the Bank for interest rate swaps and cross-currency interest rate swaps. Under these swaps the Bank would effectively convert a floating rate dollar borrowing into a fixed rate borrowing in dollars or other currencies.
The Bank's total short-term debt is not expected to exceed $3.0 billion in FY84, amounting to about 6.5% of its projected total debt for year-end FY84. The short-term debt consists of discount and interest-bearing notes maturing within one year and its one-year variable rate Central Bank Facility borrowings. Borrowings by the Bank during FY84 are expected to total about $10 billion.
