document: Third World debtors had to pay $ 50.1 billion more to service their debts to the United States and other creditors last year than they received in new loans -- a major drain on their already cash-strapped economies -- the World Bank reported Sunday . The figure , contained in the bank 's annual report and made public before its annual meeting here Sept. 23 , was almost a third larger than in 1987 , when the net pay-back totaled $ 38.3 billion . The cash drain has been growing steadily since 1984 , when it was $ 10.2 billion . The bank also reported that , despite the relatively buoyant economic growth in most industrial countries , developing countries turned in a decidedly mixed performance , ranging from a mini-boom in Southeast Asian economies to further impoverishment in Africa . The bank said that it plans to increase its own commitments for new loans to Third World countries to about $ 16.4 billion in the current fiscal year , up from $ 14.8 billion in fiscal 1988 . However , actual disbursements of loan money are expected to remain at about $ 11 billion . The figures on the cash drain showed that these `` net resource transfers , '' as the bank parlance terms them , are mushrooming rapidly -- a measure of the mounting strain that the global debt burden is placing on Third World economies . Sunday 's total is approximately $ 7 billion higher than a preliminary estimate of $ 43 billion for 1988 that the bank published last December . `` The situation in the Third World is getting worse , not better , '' a bank official said . A bank spokesman said that part of the reason that the figure is so bloated is that some countries , such as cash-rich South Korea , are paying off their debts early . And the new U.S. plan to help countries reduce their debts is expected to trim the total some . Still , the figure is massive by any measure . The total debt burden of Third World countries currently is estimated at about $ 993 billion . The debt service for this total -- that is , the payments to cover interest and principal -- amounts to about $ 143 billion a year . The bank gave a variety of reasons for the disparity in growth rates among developing countries . In general , however , it said that countries whose governments follow sensible economic policies , such as in East Asia , have attracted heavy new investment and have performed well . But others , such as those in Latin America , the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa , that are heavily state-owned economies and consume more than they produce , have not . In particular , investment has lagged in these countries as residents have sent their capital abroad . The bank said the continuing deterioration in the debt situation underscores the need for further efforts by the industrial countries to help Third World governments pare back their debt -- a major aim of the U.S. plan offered by Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady . Drain Began in 1984 However , efforts under the Brady plan are going relatively slowly , and World Bank officials cautioned that the results may not show up for at least two or three more years . Some critics believe that the plan -- designed to let debtors swap debt for securities -- may have limited use . The net cash drain from the debtor countries to the richer ones began in 1984 . Until then , the richer countries had provided more in new loans to Third World nations than those countries paid back . World Bank officials said the outflows are likely to prompt the institution to intensify its emphasis on programs that are designed to alleviate poverty , not just speed development . The bank also intends to step up lending for environmental projects .
extractive_keyphrases: third world debtors new loans third world countries global debt burden creditors cash drain
abstractive_keyphrases: cash-strapped economies