DR1: World Bank holds up US$50 million

Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa has complained that the World Bank is holding up the disbursement of $US50 million destined to assist the Dominican Republic's electricity sector. Speaking on a television program, Bengoa said that the World Bank is demanding a restructuring of the electricity rates in order to free up the money. Bengoa said that in the face of the government's disbursement of RD$22 billion in subsidies for the propane gas and electricity components, the US$50 million is not that much money. He said that in the first two months of the year the government had authorized payments of US$100 million to the electricity companies, and that last year the government paid RD$17 billion to the electricity distributors, "just to get blackouts."