Bhutan will continue to receive concessions from the World Bank for another four years even though its per capita income doesn’t qualify. The World Bank gives financial concession to those countries with per capita income less than 1,200 US Dollars and Bhutan’s per capita income is almost 2,000 US Dollars.
This, the Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said is because Bhutan is a landlocked country and depends only on the hydro power for revenue generation.
Although Bhutan will continue to receive concessions the conditions will be slightly harder. Bhutan will have to now repay the loans within 25 years instead of 40 years; the grace period will be reduced to five from 10 years and the service charge will go up to 1.25 from 0.57 percent. This condition will come into effect from 2011 till 2014.
The Managing Director in the press conference said the World Bank is enjoying a robust relationship with Bhutan. “As a small country it is very important to have a clear idea of where the country is going and we think that the ideas that are in the tenth plan to focus the country on training and skill development, on education, on ICT are all worthy ideas,” she said.
She added that Bhutan has made a good stride to meet the millennium Development Goals by providing rural Bhutan excess to road, education, health and power. She added the government has worked hard to reduce poverty. “We know unemployment particularly among the young is an issue and a problem, therefore we are working with the government to see what we can do to create jobs to employ the young people of Bhutan.”
World Bank been has a partner with Bhutan’s development since 1983. And Bhutan has burrowed over 200 million US Dollars since then. The World Bank has committed some 87 million US Dollars of which almost half have already been used in projects like education, health, ICT, urban development and other infrastructure development.
