World Bank courts new Ivory Coast government

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The World Bank is eager to work with Ivory Coast's new government and carry on its assistance even though it has not received a payment on an earlier loan that was due on Monday, a bank official said.

"We're trying to establish relations with the new government," Peter Ngomba, the bank's country coordinator for Ivory Coast, said on Monday. "But our rules require that we do get paid at certain times."

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Hundreds have been reported killed in the West African nation after violent ethnic and communal clashes following the toppling of military ruler General Robert Guei last week. A new president, Laurent Gbagbo, formed a new government on Friday after being inaugurated on Thursday.

"The timing has been difficult," Ngomba said. "They came in just at the time when we were supposed to get paid."

A World Bank official in the capital Abidjan said earlier on Monday the bank was about to halt its operations there because it did not receive a required loan payment on time.

The bank froze new projects in mid-October after a first deadline passed, 45 days after a Sept. 1 payment was missed. Under the bank's strict arrears rules, all operations are halted if a payment is still not made after 60 days.

Ivory Coast has so far missed payments of $27.5 million due the bank in September and around $11.84 million due in October.

Ngomba said the World Bank generally informs governments by telex that operations will be halted because payments have not been made. But he stressed it was eager to remain engaged in Ivory Coast.

"We're going to do what is reasonable at this time to help our client get back to normal," he said. "It's not like the bank wouldn't want to work with the new government -- we should be helping them."

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