WASHINGTON, D.C., February 1, 2000 —
The
Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation, Peter Woicke, will travel to India and Bangladesh to visit countries where IFC has invested heavily to spur growth of the private sector as a means of reducing poverty.
In India, Feb 3-10 and Feb. 15-16, Mr. Woicke will help to step up IFC's investment activity. India has traditionally been among the biggest recipients of IFC investment, but new business was curtailed last year because of sanctions against India's nuclear policy. With the easing of sanctions, some US$200 million worth of projects are already in the pipeline for India in the next six months, in sectors ranging from banking to infrastructure and high-tech industries.
Mr. Woicke will visit IFC projects and meet with government, banking, and industry leaders, as well as hold informal sessions with small business operators, educators, farmers, and others.
Projects in India reflect IFC's overall priority to provide financing for infrastructure. Most recently, IFC assisted Astha Power Corporation Ltd. with a $9 million investment in the first privately owned co-generation power plant in India which will provide a stable source of power, better services and prices for consumers, contribute to industrial growth, and encourage power sector reforms. IFC also has a $16 million equity participation in Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited to provide scarce long-term finance for private infrastructure projects.
A second focus is to develop the financial sector, including housing finance, banking, leasing, finance companies, and venture capital. IFC has invested $41.7 million in eight venture capital funds and private equity funds, including TCW/ICICI, Indus II, and Walden Niko venture capital funds, which are targeted primarily on the information technology sector. Besides this, IFC has also invested $9.6 million in two mutual funds.
To help India build its high-tech sector, IFC has a $27.5 million investment in floppy disk producer, Moser Baer India Limited, to diversify into compact disk recordables, the first project of its kind in the country. In addition to information technology, new areas of IFC interest are the social sectors of health and education.
As of November 1999, IFC's investments for its own account in India total $673.3 million, representing about 5 percent of IFC's total portfolio.
Mr. Woicke will be in Bangladesh, Feb. 10-14. IFC investments there focus sharply on basic needs for a thriving private sector—power, gas, cement, communications, and a more developed financial sector.
IFC provided $18.24 million to Grameen Phone Limited, to finance a nation-wide cellular telecoms network and bring community phones to 30,000 villages. In the power sector, IFC provided $55.2 million financing to the first independent power plant, Khulna Power, to reduce severe power shortages that constrain economic growth. IFC is investing in Delta Brac Housing Finance Co., which provides long-term home mortgage loans and creates employment opportunities in the construction industry, a significant employer of the urban poor. IFC is also assisting smaller Bangladeshi enterprises with funding, technology, and advice.
IFC's held portfolio for its own account in Bangladesh—as of November 1999—is $54.5 million.
On his trip, Mr. Woicke—who is also a Managing Director of the World Bank—will tour IFC and World Bank projects in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Dhaka, and New Delhi. In Hyderabad on Feb. 4, he will address the India Finance Forum 2000 seminar organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, which will focus on globalization, technological innovations, and deregulation, and discuss innovative forms of finance to promote growth in the new millennium.
Mr. Woicke will be accompanied by both the new IFC director for south and southeast Asia, Bernard Pasquier, and outgoing director, Rashad Kaldany, who leaves India to become director of oil, gas, and petrochemicals, one of the new World Bank/IFC coordinated departments focused on the private sector.
The mission of IFC, part of the World Bank Group, is to promote private sector investment in developing countries, which will reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses.
NOTE TO EDITORS
: For information, please call Asha Kapoor in New Delhi (tel: 91-11-611-1283 or 91-11-611-1306) and Hafeez Ahmad in Dhaka (tel: 880-2-863-618 or 880-2-861-056).
