The World Bank agreed today to lend $500m (£285.2m) to Iraq for reconstruction – its first loan to the country since 1973 – as aid donors to the devastated country met in Jordan. The soft loan for infrastructure projects was announced as donors urged Iraq to provide a list of its most urgent rebuilding projects in an attempt to speed reconstruction. Iraq presented the conference with an updated version of the projects it hopes to finance in a document called the national development strategy, an overview of the most pressing needs. The chief economist at Iraq’s central bank, Mudhir Salih Kasim, said basic services, such as water and electricity, are in their worst state in decades having been decimated by UN sanctions from 1990-2003 and three wars in the past 25 years. Full Story
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