Weekly Lending Roundup

Cape Verde

An $11.5 million IDA credit designed to help Cape Verde achieve universal primary school enrollment by 1999 was approved by the Bank January 19. Cape Verde, an archipelago off the coast of Senegal, wants to develop its human resources, and, in order to do so, must establish an integrated basic education system. The IDA credit will assist government efforts while helping to alleviate poverty.

Estonia

Estonia has made important advances in health care by cutting infant mortality and reducing the death rate from respiratory and infectious diseases. Still, this newly independent state must reorient its public health services to health promotion and disease prevention. An $18 million Bank loan approved January 19 will seek to improve awareness of healthy life styles, develop human resources by modernizing public health training, and support ongoing health financing reforms.

Mexico

Mexico's hard-pressed financial sector will benefit from a $23.6 million technical assistance loan approved by the Bank's Board January 24. The funds will help the Mexican government improve the safety and soundness of the financial system as it becomes more open to international competition in the provision of financial services. Changes in Mexico's regulatory framework will also engage a broader base of institutional investors and improve domestic savings. Coupled with parallel reforms already undertaken by the government, the technical assistance project will help reduce the cost of capital to firms and encourage efficient development of the Mexican financial institutions and securities market.

St. Lucia

Saint Lucia's schools are often overcrowded. Basic education in the populous Eastern Caribbean island is spotty and inefficient. The Bank and IDA will support Saint Lucia's educational reform efforts with a loan of $3.36 million and an IDA credit for the same amount, the aim of which are to provide increased educational opportunities for youths in the island's more remote areas. The funds will help rehabilitate primary schools and replace a school that was destroyed by a tropical storm.