The World Bank announced last Friday it had approved a loan of $35 million to Israel to help finance private industrial projects which are either export-oriented or located in Israel’s less developed areas.
Of the total amount to be loaned, $25 million will go to the industrial development Bank of Israel, Israel’s most important development finance institution, to meet part of its foreign exchange requirements for industrial projects of its sub-borrowers. Five million dollars will be allocated to industrial research and development to help Israel make effective use of “its highly qualified manpower and develop an indigenous industrial technology,” the World Bank said.
This is the first assistance of this kind to be provided by the bank to a member country. Under the program, the office of the chief scientist in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will carry out technological, financial and commercial appraisal of research and development proposals and supervise their implementation. The loan funds will help finance imported equipment and materials, and the services of consultants.
The remaining five million of the World Bank loan, the bank statement said, will help finance the expansion of training facilities and programs to provide some 760 more student places in three technical engineering institutions and 850 additional student places in four vocational training centers.
According to the World Bank statement, the loan to Israel will bear interest at eight-and-one-half percent per annum. Three previous bank loans totaling $60 million have helped Israel carry out a variety of projects in support of the country’s industrial growth, the World Bank said.
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