Desarrollo energético en América Latina y la economía mundial

WORLD BANK LENDING FOR HYDROCARBONS: A NEW PROGRAM* Efraín Friedmann** Senior Adviser on Energy Poliey, Energy Departament, World Bank PART I, GENERAL 1 would like to thank you for the opportuni ty to explain the World Bank's Program to accelerate oH and gas development in countries of the Third World. Before discussing the program itself, and the role we see for the WorId Bank in assisting developing countries to manage their energy resources, 1 will saya few words about the ''''orld Bank. The World Bank. The World Bank was established in 1945 following a United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference of 44 Governments at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The International Monetary Fund also was founded as a result of that Conference. The World Bank is owned by the governments of 132 countries. It obtains its funds primarily from its own borrowings in the world capital markets, from its net earnings, the flow of repayments of its loans, and :also from the paid– in capital subscriptions of its member countries. The Bank's firts loans were made for post-World ''''ar II recons– truction. However, by 1949, the emphasis was shifted to loans for the purpose of economic development. Loans are made directly to govern– ments, to state enterprises, 01' to private companies, with a gove1'nment guar.antee. The bulk of the World Bank loans have been for specific projects in such sectors as agriculture and rural development, edu– cation, electric power, industry, population planning, telecommuni– cations, tourism, urban development and water suppIy, in developing countries. Normally, the Bank lends for the cost of imported material, ·The views and interpretations in this documents are those of the author, and should not be attributed to the W'orld Bank, to its affiliated organizations. or to any individual acting in their behalf. uThe author wishes to thank his colleague, Eduardo Elejalde, Deputy Divi– sion Chief, Petroleum Projects. for his assístance in the preparation of this papero 158