World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn said Wednesday the bank's financial assistance to India would soon likely be doubled to three billion dollars a year. "We are talking at the moment of sanctioning over three billion dollars annually for the next few years," Wolfensohn told reporters in New Delhi. However, he added: "I don't think that money is the way to judge it (help to India)." The World Bank had sanctioned 1.5 billion dollars to the country in the financial year which ended March. Assistance is likely to increase by another billion dollars in the current fiscal year.
Wolfensohn said the funding would focus on infrastructure projects such as drinking water facilities, electricity generation, roads and other social sector programmes.