Govt clears $5.4b World Bank loan

The government has approved the World Bank's $5.44 billion lending agenda for China for 2009-11 fiscal year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The bank may provide further support for the post-quake reconstruction in Sichuan province and surrounding regions, said a senior official of the Bank.

The World Bank lending package will cover 41 projects in the next three years, said an NDRC statement yesterday. The bulk of the loans will go to the less developed central and western regions, which will take in 72 percent of the loans, according to the statement.