IMF, DEVELOPMENT BANKS, TO ASSIST ECUADOR
It could be months before major
assistance is provided for Earthquake-stricken Ecuador,
although the International Monetary Fund and the development
banks have already taken the first steps, monetary sources and
U.S. officials said.
    They said the IMF had informed the Ecuadorean government
that it was prepared, under its emergency system, to provide
about 50 mln dlrs, or about 25 per cent of the country's quota
in the agency, but it is up to Ecuador to request the money.
    At the same time, the World Bank and the Inter-American
Development Bank have dispatched missions to the region hit by
last Thursday's quake to determine what the country's needs are
and how they can speed up disbursement of funds from programs
already approved.
    The World Bank estimates that of the over one billion dlrs
it has approved for Ecuador in recent years, some 277 mln dlrs
has yet to be disbursed and a portion of this could,
potentially, be made available.
    The bank said that the programs it has approved are for
rural development, agriculture, water and sewerage, electrical
power and others.
    If the assistance that is needed can be fit into these
general categories, the funds could be then provided for from
expedited disbursements
 Reuter
