Loans for El Salvador emergency

The World Bank was accused of “behaving like vultures, like loan sharks” by US NGO 50 Years is Enough Campaign after it offered to help finance emergency relief efforts in El Salvador in the wake of January’s earthquake. The group was complaining about the use of hard currency loans for this purpose. Under its current programme for El Salvador, the World Bank has earmarked US$375m in loans for ongoing projects. Damage estimates are about US$1bn. IMF staff are also in discussions with the government about a possible standby programme.