Millions of dollars will immediately become available for drinking water and sanitation projects now that the Congress has voted matching funds appropriations. Contributions from Norway, Japan, Germany, U.S. B.I.D. and World Bank for ?big and small projects? total US$70 million, according to Rafael Calderon, Technical Secretary to the President. In the absence of matching funds, the grants had languished for ?at least eight months? in World Bank and B.I.D. accounts. However, by Christmas the projects these funds were intended to enable will be underway, said Calderon, who added that President Mejia would be announcing the list of projects in the near future. Calderon also alluded to the substantial inflow of liquidity occasioned by the release of almost DR$2 billion in treasury certificates held by the Central Bank. He offered assurances that the removal of the lid on bank loan portfolios, a general easing of credit ought to be manifest very soon.
