INTERNATIONAL LENDING

INTERNATIONAL LENDING New commitments of low-interest loans from the World Bank dropped from $29 billion in fiscal 1999 to $15 billion in fiscal 2000, according to recently released operating results. The sharp drop has been attributed to emerging economies' recovery from financial crises and the increasing use of small-scale projects. The World Bank made commitments to 88 countries in the year to June 30th; this chart shows only countries covered by our emerging-markets section.