Wang Hua was published in the third issue of Shenzhen Finance, 1995.
As far as its purpose is concerned, the World Bank is the largest policy bank in the world. The purpose of the World Bank has a strong color of development and assistance: to solve the long-term capital needs of member countries for economic recovery and development by organizing and providing long-term credit and investment.
First, the establishment background and organization of the World Bank
The World Bank is actually a world bank group, which consists of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association and the International Finance Corporation. Usually, the World Bank we refer to mainly refers to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It is an international financial institution established with the International Monetary Fund in June1945+05438+February according to the agreement of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed at the Bretton Woods Conference. It officially opened in June 1946, and became a financial business institution of the United Nations the following year. It is also a specialized agency under the United Nations, headquartered in Washington, USA, with offices in Paris, new york, London, Geneva, Tokyo and United Nations Headquarters. In addition, it has representative offices and permanent representatives in many developing countries. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association are actually two brands of an institution. The International Development Association was established in September 1960, which is the product of long-term struggle of developing countries. The three main institutions of the World Bank play different roles in loan and credit activities.
The highest authority of the World Bank is the board of directors, which is composed of directors and deputy directors appointed by member countries. The director and deputy director are usually senior officials such as finance ministers or central bank governors of member countries. The main functions of the Council include approving the admission of new members, increasing or decreasing working capital, suspending membership, and deciding on the distribution of bank net income or other important matters. The standing body of the World Bank is the Executive Board, which handles the daily affairs of the Bank when the Board is not in session.
The capital of the World Bank comes from the shares subscribed by member countries. The initial approved capital is USD 65.438+0 billion, which is divided into 6.5438+million shares, each of which is USD 65.438+0 million. The more shares subscribed, the more voting rights. The United States is the country with the largest subscribed share capital and the largest number of shares in the World Bank, with 654.38+09.58% voting rights, which is shared by other countries. China has 3.5% voting rights and can choose an executive director. Since then, the World Bank has increased its capital several times, and raised funds by issuing bonds and loans, interest income and other income in the international market as a source of funds for issuing loans.
Second, the loan policy and payment terms:
World Bank loan is a long-term loan provided by the World Bank to developing member countries, which is mainly used for government-guaranteed projects and subsidizes some construction projects with long construction period and low profit rate, which are necessary for the country's economy and development.
The World Bank only lends to its member countries, and the member countries participating in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development must be members of the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. World Bank loans are mainly divided into "hard loans" and "soft loans". The so-called "hard loan" refers to the interest-bearing loan of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Most of the funds it raises have to pay interest, so the funds it lends also have to charge interest. The "hard loan" is calculated in US dollars, and the interest is charged for the delivered part, and the commitment fee of 0.75% is charged for the unpaid part after signing the agreement. The annual interest rate of "hard loan" is around 7%, which fluctuates every six months with the international capital market interest rate. The change of world bank loan interest rate lags behind the capital market interest rate, and the change is relatively stable. The so-called "soft loan" refers to the interest-free credit of the International Development Association. In terms of special drawing rights (SDR), "soft loans" only charge a handling fee of 0.5% every year. It is only lent to the governments of poor member countries, and the per capita national income is below 4 10. Per capita national income 4 10? Member States between $835 can provide mixed loans, both "hard loans" and "soft loans".
The loan policy of the World Bank is as strict as the loan conditions, and it is formulated according to the provisions of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Agreement, the International Development Association Agreement, the General Principles of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Loan Agreement and the General Principles of the International Development Association Credit Agreement.
Generally speaking, the loan policies and conditions are mainly reflected in the following points:
1. The World Bank will not consider granting loans to member countries and countries with repayment ability for free. For non-member countries, the loan object is only the government, and the loan needs to be guaranteed by the member governments and institutions recognized by the central bank or the World Bank to ensure the repayment of principal and interest and other expenses.
2. Loans must be used for specific projects, that is, World Bank loans are related to projects, and these projects need to be strictly selected. Borrowing countries need to provide detailed information related to loan projects to the World Bank, including relevant political, economic and financial conditions. Only when the applicant country or project really cannot obtain loans from other channels on reasonable terms will the World Bank consider its application or provide loan guarantee.
World Bank loans to projects usually account for only about 50% of the project investment, while the other half of the investment needs to be solved by the borrowing country with domestic matching funds (including labor force transformation investment). In the loans provided by the World Bank to engineering construction projects, usually the project unit can only get 40% foreign exchange, and the rest is paid directly by the World Bank to material suppliers and labor contractors in project bidding and procurement.
3. Strict supervision: Although the World Bank loan projects are spread all over many countries and regions in the world, the strict supervision of the projects by the World Bank is universally recognized. The World Bank has formed a set of rigorous and scientific project management procedures and corresponding project cycle. Loans can only be used for approved projects and cannot be used for other purposes. The supervision of the project is detailed to the progress, management and material storage. The World Bank regularly sends experts to the project site for supervision. These experts include not only financial experts, but also various engineering and technical experts who are familiar with the project content, listen to the opinions of the project unit, check the implementation of the project, and ask the borrower to provide some relevant actual information. The World Bank has the right to suggest that the project be revised.
4. Convenient withdrawal: World Bank loans are allowed to be withdrawn in any currency and can be purchased freely in all member countries and the awarding country Switzerland. This is much more free and flexible than using other loans and export credits, and there are many options for importing technology from imported goods. The World Bank uses different loan currencies for contractors and suppliers of engineering projects. Generally speaking, the payment is made in the currency of the country, but if the contractor or supplier buys imported materials, the payment is made in the currency of the country where the materials are exported.
5. Non-military and non-political nature; The World Bank will not provide loans for military projects and projects for political purposes.
Three. Characteristics of World Bank loans:
World Bank loans have the advantages of long term, low interest rate and convenient withdrawal. However, the procedures are strict and need to be linked to specific projects.
1. Long loan term: The longest hard loan term of the World Bank is 20 years, with an average of 17 years and a grace period of 5 years. Starting from the sixth year, the principal and interest will be repaid every year, and only the interest will be repaid in the first five years, not the principal. The longest term of soft loans is 50 years. The grace period is 10 year. That is, 10 does not need to repay the principal in the first year, but will be repaid in two installments every year from 1 1 year. The specific term depends on the per capita GNP of the borrowing country. Due to the long loan period, the borrowing country has great flexibility in the allocation of funds, accordingly, the proportion of capital flow can be reduced, which is conducive to improving the value-added ability of funds.
2. Low loan interest rate: The loan funds of the World Bank come from the paid-in share capital of member countries, but most of them are medium-and long-term bonds issued in the capital market. Because of the high credit rating of these bonds, the financing cost is lower than that of other banks, and the loan interest rate is correspondingly lower.
3. The payment method of the loan is unique; The World Bank loan payment method has a complete set of prescribed methods to ensure that the loan will not be misappropriated. Although there are many loan payment methods, they can generally be divided into two types: reimbursement withdrawal application payment and special commitment application payment, and all loan projects need to set up working capital accounts. After the project is approved, the World Bank advances millions of dollars in the working capital account (the World Bank does not require any bank to open this account, but requires its bank to submit a letter of guarantee to ensure that the World Bank loan will not be used for other purposes and that the payment will be made according to the customer's instructions). According to the progress of the project, the project implementation unit classifies and summarizes the relevant documents of the project according to the categories determined by the World Bank and the project unit in advance, fills in a payment letter with a specific format, and after being signed by the authorized person, reimburses the World Bank for the funds used to supplement the working capital account. International or domestic competitive bidding is adopted for bulk materials and services in project construction. Under the principle of economy and efficiency, the World Bank will provide equal opportunities for all qualified bidders in developed and developing countries, so as to achieve full competition between suppliers or contractors and enable borrowers to obtain high-quality goods or projects at lower prices. It can effectively prevent graft in engineering or material procurement. If the supplier of the borrowing country wins the bid, it can give preferential prices to encourage the borrowing country to develop its own industry.
4. Strict loan procedures: loans are only lent to member governments or public and private institutions guaranteed by them. It usually takes two years from application to fund withdrawal. During these two years, the preliminary work included the project planning and selection of member countries and the submission of all railway projects to the World Bank. After the preliminary approval of the World Bank, the preliminary work can be started. Feasibility study report, technical analysis, economic and financial benefit analysis. A scientific aspect of World Bank project management is the division of project cycle stages. The World Bank usually divides the project cycle into six stages: appraisal, preparation, evaluation, negotiation and signing, implementation and summary evaluation, and each stage has specific requirements, objectives and working procedures. The World Bank's management of its loans is essentially the management of projects, that is, the project management with lenders in engineering, payment, procurement and consultation. Of course, at different stages of the project, the content and emphasis of management are different. Six stages constitute the whole process of the project, which is usually called the project cycle. Such as project initiation, appraisal, preparation, pre-evaluation, evaluation, negotiation, signing, entry into force, mid-term adjustment, completion, evaluation, repayment and project termination. Although the focus of World Bank management is to analyze the feasibility of the project and supervise the implementation of the project, it is called cycle management because each stage has to participate in management from different angles and is organically related and complementary.
Four. The World Bank and China
China is one of the sponsors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. After the founding of New China, the World Bank seat was occupied by the Kuomintang government. 1980. The Board of Governors of the World Bank passed a resolution to restore China's legal seat. 1980? 198 1 year, the world bank conducted a comprehensive survey of China's economy and wrote a million-word survey report, China: the development of socialist economy. 1981June, the board of directors of the world bank approved the first loan project in China-the key university development project. Since then, long-term development loans have been provided to China. At present, the World Bank loan is also an important channel for China to utilize foreign capital. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Finance, by the end of 1994, the World Bank had approved 48 loan projects to China. The committed capital reached about $20.3 billion, of which interest-bearing loans exceeded $1200 million. About 6% of the total loan; Interest-free loans amounted to more than $8 billion, accounting for about 40% of the total loans. These projects cover almost all provinces and regions in Chinese mainland except Tibet and Taiwan Province Province, involving industries and departments such as industry, agriculture, energy, transportation, social development and finance. The loans provided by the World Bank to Chinese mainland are mainly for agriculture, mainly for agricultural development, irrigation, soil improvement, sideline production of fruit and forest, animal husbandry and aquatic products, and poverty alleviation. It can be said that it is the most beneficial sector of the project. The loan amount accounts for about 25.6% of the World Bank's total loan commitment to China, followed by transportation projects, accounting for 2 1.5% of the total, which has greatly promoted the development of China's railways, highways, ports, especially expressways in recent years.
Social development projects cover a wide range of topics, including education and health. Water supply, urban housing, etc. , accounting for 19.2% of the total.
In addition, China has reached a technical assistance agreement with the World Bank, which is a loan to an intermediate financial institution. China has also introduced World Bank funds for industrial and forestry development, which has shown good benefits.
At present, China has completed more than 40 World Bank loan projects, and more than 100 projects are being implemented, some of which are nearing completion. The management of the World Bank believes that China is one of the countries that make the best use of World Bank loans.
At the annual meeting held in Madrid from 65438 to 1994, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund announced that they would hold the annual meeting of joint directors in Hong Kong from June to September 1997. At that time, Hong Kong's sovereignty had just returned to China, and the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was established less than three months ago. Hundreds of government officials, international financial tycoons and global media gathered in Hong Kong. This is a test for the new SAR government and a review of Hong Kong's smooth transition.
Author: (China People's Bank Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Branch)