Millions for Africa

Eight U. S. banks* teamed up with the World Bank last week to make a foreign loan, the first such cooperative venture in the bank's history. Together, they loaned $80 million to South Africa, which needs more electric power and railroad equipment to supply her rapidly expanding economy, booming from big wool exports and the discovery of new gold fields.

The World Bank put up $30 million for South Africa's state-owned Electricity Supply Commission to buy huge generators, transformers and other equipment. It put up $20 million--and the private banks another $10 million--for the state-owned Railways and Harbors Administration. In addition, the private banks put up a $20 million credit to be used for whatever South Africa needed. One-fifth of the equipment will be bought in the U.S., the rest in the United Kingdom. With the new equipment, South Africa hopes to boost gold production in ten years from $408 million a year to $575 million, pay off the loan with ease.

The World Bank expects that loans similar to South Africa's will become common in the future. In the last year, the trade and credit position of many nations has improved so rapidly that they are now good risks for private lenders.

* The lending syndicate, organized by Manhattan's Dillon, Read & Co., included the Bank of America, Manhattan's National City Central Hanover, Bankers Trust, Chemical Bank & Trust, New York Trust, Bank of the Manhattan Co., and Chicago's First National.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.