The World Bank is disbursing grants and no-interest loans to Afghanistan at a pace that is more than twice as fast as average for all other countries, the banks country director for Afghanistan said Friday, according to the World Bank press review Monday.
The official, Alastair McKechnie, said the banks ratio of financial-aid disbursements to commitments stands at 52 percent for Afghanistan. The worldwide ratio for the bank is about 21 percent. He said the bank has committed 753 million US dollar (4,6 milliarder DKR) to Afghanistan this year and expects to commit an additional 285 million dollar by June 2005.
– We are doing our part to achieve early results on the ground, McKechnie said. On Thursday, the bank approved a 145 million US dollar package of loans and grants to rehabilitate school buildings, rebuild urban neighborhoods and help the Afghan government boost its administrative effectiveness.
McKechnie said the violence has not caused major delays in reconstruction work sponsored by the bank. – It has not seriously affected the activities that are financed by the World Bank, mainly because these activities are being implemented by (non-governmental organizations) and UN agencies that have strong links with the local community that has enabled them to avoid incidents, he said.
Meanwhile, nine out of 10 eligible Afghans have signed up for landmark October elections, the United Nations said Sunday, a resounding endorsement of a democratic experiment supposed to help Afghanistan turn its back on years of debilitating war.
Women and ethnic minorities are strongly represented among those registered for the first-ever direct vote for president. But parts of the south risk being left behind because of stepped-up attacks on election workers and Afghan and US security forces.
First tallies since the eight-month registration drive began winding down on Saturday show that 8,7 million of an estimated 9,8 million eligible voters have collected ID cards for the Oct. 9 election. Forty-one percent of those registered were women.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
