Guatemala Gets WB Financing

The World Bank has approved a $350m loan to Guatemala to help the country improve its fiscal and institutional policies and mitigate the impact of global crisis. The loan has a maturity period of 26.5 years, including a grace period of 8.5 years. JPMorgan says it sees little downside risk for Guatemala in getting the loan, as the country has relatively low public debt levels, which stand at about 18.1% of 2008 GDP.