Functions of the World Bank

1. Granting Loans:

1.                   i.    Loans are, ordinarily, given either to the Government or to the central banks of member countries.

Loans are given even to private enterprises in member countries. But loans will be given to private enterprises in member countries, only if the repayment of such and the payment of interest thereon are guaranteed by the Governments.

1.                 ii.    Loans will be granted to a member country, only if the bank is satisfied with the capacity of the borrowing country to marks use of and to repay the loans.
2.                iii.    Loans will be given only for specific projects.
3.                iv.    Loans will be given only if the bant is satisfied with the soundness of the specific projects for which loans are sought.
4.                 v.    Loans will be given only if the bank is convinced with the feasibility of the objects.
5.                vi.    Generally, loans will be given only for projects like transport, power development irrigation, agriculture, industry, etc. which contribute directly to the productive capacity, and not for projects of social character, such as housing, education, etc.
6.               vii.    Loans will be given only to meet the foreign exchange requirements of any projects. The borrowing country is excepted to mobilize its domestic resources for meeting the domestic currency requirement of the project.
7.             viii.    Loans will be given only when the borrowing country is not able to raise funds from the normal sources on its own efforts.

2. Provision of Technical Assistance:

Another important function of the Bank is the provision of technical assistance to the member countries. It sends to the member countries its economic experts to carry out the general survey of their physical or economic resources. It assigns highly qualified experts to the member countries to provide advice on economic development programmes.

3. Other Functions:

In additional to the provision of financial & technical assistance to member countries, the Bank performs some other functions also. It uses its good offices for the settlement of disputes between member countries for instance; it has settled the disputes between India & Pakistan regarding the sharing of the water of the Indusbarin. Similarly it settled the dispute between England and U.A.R.