Tenth Annual Report

The tenth annual report of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development which was transmitted to the Board of Governors on September 12, 1955, covered the activities of the Bank from July 1, 1954 to June 30, 1955. During this period the Bank had made 20 loans in 14 countries and territories, at a total of $410 million, the largest figure for a fiscal year in the Bank's history. The report noted that since the Bank had begun operations, it had made 124 loans amounting to $2,324 million in 37 countries. Two of the year's loans had been linked with a simultaneous public offering of the borrower's bonds to private international investment. The Bank reported that, as in earlier years, the greater part of the loans had been for improvement in basic services; $160 million had been lent for the expansion and improvement of transportation facilities and $110.3 million for power projects. Net income of $24.7 million was added to the supplemental reserve against losses on loans and guarantees, increasing that reserve to $122 million; the Special Reserve had been increased by $13 million, giving it a total of S62 million. The year's gross income, excluding loan commissions, had been $59 million, compared with $50 million for the preceding year. Gross expenses had amounted to $34 million, as compared with $30 million for the preceding year. The Bank attributed the rise in expenses as mainly due to increased payments of interest and other charges on the larger volume of Bank borrowings outstanding.