Ap May Get Rs 8,000 Cr Ibrd Loan

The World Bank has agreed in principle to sanction a credit of Rs 8,000 crore to Andhra Pradesh which will be earmarked mainly for on-going projects in the infrastructure sector.

The release of funds will depend on how far the state government can progress in cutting subsidies and pruning expenditure on welfare schemes.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has already informed his cabinet colleagues of the World Bank's decision.

Naidu is also understood to have told his colleagues that if development programmes had to be given a further push, the current welfare programmes would have to be phased out in the next year or two.

 

A senior minister said there were two indications implicit in the Chief Minister's statement: a hike in the price of the subsidised rice and relaxation of prohibition.

The state has sought a credit line from the World Bank for restructuring its finances. The state's finances have eroded over the past two years.