3 May, 1998
Israel becomes an IDA donor.
Israel has informed the World Bank that it has joined the countries donating to the
IDA’s eleventh round to raise funds, and has obtained access for Israeli companies to
tenders amounting to $ 6 billion a year.
The IDA (International Development Association) is the agency within the World
Bank Group responsible for soft lending to the 80 poorest member-countries whose
population numbers some 3.5 billion-about 60 percent of the world population-and
whose average per capita income is around $ 500. These countries cannot service their
debts and have no access to international capital markets.
Israel’s decision to join the IDA donor countries follows the meeting held last year
between the Minister of Finance, Ya’akov Ne’eman, the Governor of the Bank of
Israel, Jacob Frenkel, and the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, at
which the Minister of Finance agreed in principle to Israel’s becoming a donor-state.
Israel’s contribution to the IDA gives Israeli companies access to a market for
development projects amounting to some $ 6 billion a year, a market from which they
had previously been barred.
By becoming a donor country, Israel join the donor countries forum, with growing
influence on the World Bank’s lending strategy and the IDA’s activities. This will
strengthen Israel’s standing in the international community, in line with its aspiration to
become a member of key-world organizations, such as the OECD.
For further information, please contact the International Affairs and External
Relations office at the Bank of Israel 972-2-6552709/712/713.
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Israel becomes an IDA donor
03/05/1998