Ampal Grants Israel $7,500,000 Loan; Will Open Bank in Israel

AMPAL-American Israel Corporation, American investment corporation doing business in Israel, has extended a $7, 500, 000 loan to the Israel Government and plans the establishment of a bank in the Jewish State to help in the economic development of the country, it was announced here today by A. Dickenstein, president of AMPAL, who recently spent four weeks in Israel on a business trip.

During his visit, Mr. Dickstein reported, he conferred with AMPAL executives and leaders of businesses affiliated with AMPAL about the establishment of a special bank in Tel Aviv–to be known as the American Israel Development Bank–whose purpose would be to finance the development of industries and mineral resources in Israel. The AMPAL group is considering an immediate investment of $3, 300,000 in the bank as part of its original capital of 10, 000,000 Israeli pounds.

The bank, he said, would fill a need in Israel for long-term financing in development fields such as no banking institution in Israel now provides. The new bank would not compete with established commercial banks and would not operate in the field of short-term credit, except in the case of financing of exports or credit transactions involving foreign exchange, Mr. Dickstein declared.

He revealed that the loan to the Israel Government to finance the expansion of the country’s irrigation and electric power development program would be a three-year arrangement. Mr. Dickstein also reported that various AMPAL enterprises in Israel were prospering, including a fibreboard plant and a shipping concern.

Commenting on Israel’s economy in general, Mr. Dickstein said that it has “turned the corner and is on its way towards a healthy development. Hope, determination and a buoyant confidence in her ability to solve her economic problems have taken the place of impending economic crises so prevalent during the first years of statehood,” he concluded.