Evening star., 1948-05-16

STUDY on ttlc SCcIic.
After the loan Is made experts
also watch its expenditure. They
make sure the money goes for the
purpose for which 1t was borrowed
In much the same way a bank In
this country supervises the expen-
diture Of a construction loan.
Who puts up the money the bank
loans and who supervises the lend
ing?
To begin, 46 countries are mem
bers of the bank. That is, they put
up the money and are stockholders.
One share of stock, incidentally,
costs 100000, and as an individual
you can't buy any.
These As countries have SUBJ
scribed a total of s8,263. 100000 to
the banks capital. In general, the
amount of the subscriptions Is
based on the economic resources Of
the various nations.
Only 20 per cent Of the amount
Of the subscriptions Is paid In.
however. The rest is subject to
call when the bank needs it. OF the
20 per cent, only 2 per cent is In
gold or in United States dollars. Tho
remaining IS per cent is in the cur
rencies of the various members and
cannot be used for loans without the
consent Of the subscribing country.
The United States has consented
to the use Of its 18 per cent for
loans, and Belgium has made avail
able for lending an equivalent Of
81, 100000 In Belgian francs.
Makes Tidy Profit
The banks paid-in capital on
March amounted to 81 SAT, 705 900.
The United States is the largest
stockholder, subscribing about SO
per cent of the total capital and
paying in $685. 900 900. The per
cent paid in by other countries In
gold or dollars totals sos 6,847 900, and
the 10 per cent in currencies OF
those members amounts to S915,-
358, 1000.
Those currencies include some
many Americans never heard of. In
addition to the dollar, pound, franc
and rupee there are the cruzeiros,
colon, koruna, sucre, quetzal, cor
doba, guarani. sol and others.
The staff Of about 400 persons at
the H street headquarters Of the
bank takes those different currencies
in stride. Twenty-three nation
alities are represented on the staff
and are able to cope with the
mysteries Of nearly all currencies.
In addition to the paid-in capital
the bank has the proceeds Of the
two issues of debentures aggregating
$3.50, 900, 900. They were marketed
last July and the bank can sell more
Of its bonds as 1t has profitable use
for more money. So far the bank
has made a profit Of $1.063, ,805 since
is began business. In addition 1t has
set aside from earnings $1,933.718 in
the special reserve fund for meeting
obligations.
Snyder on Board
The bank is governed by a Board
Of Governors, consisting Of one rep
resentative from each country. Sec
retary Of the Treasury Snyder Is
the United States representative on
this board. In immediate charge OF
the bank are IA executive directors
or their alternates.
The voting by the governors or
executive directors is SO arranged
that the smaller stockholders have q
little more influence in proportion
to their holdings than the larger
stockholders. Each member Is spot
ted $50 votes and then gets an addi-
tional vote for each share of stock
held. Luxembourg has subscribed
$10,000,0 900 to the bank, which is IL
of the total, but 1t has 81 Of the
total votes.
The United States subscription Is
90. .43 per cent Of the total capital,
but it casts SO so per cent Of the vote.
The IA executive directors are in
Washington and normally meet once
week. The five largest stockhold-
ers-the United States, Great Brit
ain, France, China and India-each
appoint one executive director.
The nine others are elected by the
governors Of the remaining men,
bers, so that each Of the elected
executive directors usually repre-
sents a number Of countries. For
example, Luis Machado Of Cuba
represents his country and eight
other Latin American nations.
Confusion in Identity
! Leon Baranski of Poland repre-
sents that country and also Czecho-
slovakia and Yugoslavia.
Russia is not member, nor are
Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria Of
the other side of the iron curtain.
Argentina Is the only Latin Amert-
can country not in.
Occasionally residents of the Capt.
tai confuse other financial institu.
tions here with the World Bank.
One of these other institutions Is
the International Monetary Fund,
also at 1918 H street NV, and also
a specialized agency of the U. N.
It does not make long-term loans
for productive purposes. It's job Is
to stabilize international exchange
to aid in the free flow of interna-
tional trade and payments therefor.
Then there Is the rt-1mport
Bank, a United States Government
CORPORATION at 735 Fifteenth street
NV. 1t was set up in February,
1884. to aid the foreign trade Of
the United States. Its $1,000, ,000, 900
capital stock is held by the Treasury.
Tbaro is aIso the International