International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Abstract

The sixteenth annual repot of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, covering the fiscal year July 1, 1960, to June 30, 1961, was presented to the Board of Governors on September 19, 1961. The report noted that in the year under review the activities of the International Bank had been part of a broadening stream of financial and technical assistance to the less developed countries. Aid had been provided by: 1) the International Development Association (IDA), an affiliate of the Bank which was designed to aid economic growth by means of credits bearing less heavily on the balance of payments of underdeveloped countries than conventional loans; 2) the Inter-American Development Bank, which attempted to increase the flow of development funds and to coordinate efforts to assist economic development; 3) the UN Special Fund, which had financed pre-investment surveys, in some cases with the International Bank acting as executing agent; and 4) the Development Assistance Group (DAG), which consisted of ten governments that carried on continued consultations—several of these governments had taken steps to facilitate their extension of aid to the less developed countries. The report noted that the Bank had continued to cooperate with the capital markets and with private institutional investors in raising capital for economic development.