In March the Bank approved a new lending facility, the Catastrophe Risk Deferred Drawdown Option, to give middle-income countries immediate access to emergency funds of up to $500 million in the event of a natural disaster. Countries qualify if they have a hazard risk management programme monitored by the Bank. The new fund is to have fewer conditions, longer maturities and be cheaper than previous similar facilities which have languished unused.

Bond fund management company Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), has been selected by the Bank to manage the new $5 billion Global Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund, or Gemloc, announced last year to assist countries to build local currency bond markets (see Update 58).