International Development Association Act , 1960

1 Interpretation.

1.—In this Act—

“the Agreement” means the agreement, for the establishment and operation of an international body to be called the International Development Association, of which the text of the Articles is set out in the Schedule to this Act;

“the Association” means the International Development Association established under the Agreement.

2 Approval of terms of the Agreement.

2.—The terms of the Agreement are hereby approved.

3 Financial and other provisions.

3.—(1) The subsequent subsections of this section shall come into operation on the day on which the Agreement is signed on behalf of the Government.

(2) The following payments, as and when they become appropriate to be made on behalf of the Government, shall be made out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof:

(a) payments under subsections (a) to (d) of Section 2 of Article II of the Agreement,

(b) payments under Section 1 of Article III of the Agreement,

(c) payments under paragraph (a) of Section 2 of Article IV of the Agreement,

(d) payments under subparagraph (i) of paragraph (c) of Section 4 of Article VII of the Agreement.

(3) The Minister for Finance may create and issue to the Association, in such form as he thinks fit, such non-interest-bearing and non-negotiable notes or other obligations as are provided for in subsection (e) of Section 2 of Article II of the Agreement, and any payments in respect of any such notes or obligations so created and issued shall be made out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(4) The Minister for Finance may borrow from any person, and the Bank of Ireland may advance to him, any sum or sums required for payments under this section and, for the purpose of such borrowing, he may create and issue any securities bearing such rate of interest and subject to such conditions as to repayment, redemption or otherwise as he thinks fit.

(5) The principal and interest of any securities issued under subsection (4) of this section and the expenses incurred in connection with their issue shall be charged on the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(6) Any moneys received by the Government from the Association or raised by securities under subsection (4) of this section shall be placed to the credit of the account of the Exchequer and shall form part of the Central Fund and be available in any manner in which that Fund is available.

(7) The Central Bank of Ireland shall act as a depository for the holdings of currency of the State and other assets of the Association and may advance to the Minister for Finance any sum or sums required for payments under this section.

(8) The provisions of Sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Article VIII of the Agreement shall have the force of law in the State, subject to the proviso that nothing in the said Section 9 shall be construed—

(i) as entitling the Association to import goods, free of customs duty, without any restriction on their subsequent sale in the country to which they were imported,

(ii) as conferring on the Association any exemption from duties or taxes which form part of the price of goods sold, or

(iii) as conferring on the Association any exemption from duties or taxes which are in fact no more than charges for services rendered.

4 Short title.

4.—This Act may be cited as the International Development Association Act, 1960.

SCHEDULE. Articles of Agreement of the International Development Association.

The Governments on whose behalf this Agreement is signed,

Considering

That mutual cooperation for constructive economic purposes, healthy development of the world economy and balanced growth of international trade foster international relationships conducive to the maintenance of peace and world prosperity;

That an acceleration of economic development which will promote higher standards of living and economic and social progress in the less-developed countries is desirable not only in the interests of those countries but also in the interests of the international community as a whole;

That achievement of these objectives would be facilitated by an increase in the international flow of capital, public and private, to assist in the development of the resources of the less-developed countries,

do hereby agree as follows:

The International Development Association (hereinafter called “the Association”) is established and shall operate in accordance with the following provisions:

Purposes.

The purposes of the Association are to promote economic development, increase productivity and thus raise standards of living in the less-developed areas of the world included within the Association's membership, in particular by providing finance to meet their important developmental requirements on terms which are more flexible and bear less heavily on the balance of payments than those of conventional loans, thereby furthering the developmental objectives of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (hereinafter called “the Bank”) and supplementing its activities.

The Association shall be guided in all its decisions by the provisions of this Article.

Membership; Initial Subscriptions.

Section 1. Membership.

(a) The original members of the Association shall be those members of the Bank listed in Schedule A hereto which, on or before the date specified in Article XI, Section 2 (c), accept membership in the Association.

(b) Membership shall be open to other members of the Bank at such times and in accordance with such terms as the Association may determine.

Section 2. Initial Subscriptions.

(a) Upon accepting membership, each member shall subscribe funds in the amount assigned to it. Such subscriptions are herein referred to as initial subscriptions.

(b) The initial subscription assigned to each original member shall be in the amount set forth opposite its name in Schedule A, expressed in terms of United States dollars of the weight and fineness in effect on January 1, 1960.

(c) Ten per cent. of the initial subscription of each original member shall be payable in gold or freely convertible currency as follows: fifty per cent. within thirty days after the date on which the Association shall begin operations pursuant to Article XI, Section 4, or on the date on which the original member becomes a member, whichever shall be later; twelve and one-half per cent. one year after the beginning of operations of the Association; and twelve and one-half per cent. each year thereafter at annual intervals until the ten per cent. portion of the initial subscription shall have been paid in full.

(d) The remaining ninety per cent. of the initial subscription of each original member shall be payable in gold or freely convertible currency in the case of members listed in Part I of Schedule A, and in the currency of the subscribing member in the case of members listed in Part II of Schedule A. This ninety per cent. portion of initial subscriptions of original members shall be payable in five equal annual instalments as follows: the first such instalment within thirty days after the date on which the Association shall begin operations pursuant to Article XI, Section 4, or on the date on which the original member becomes a member, whichever shall be later; the second instalment one year after the beginning of operations of the Association, and succeeding instalments each year thereafter at annual intervals until the ninety per cent. portion of the initial subscription shall have been paid in full.

(e) The Association shall accept from any member, in place of any part of the member's currency paid in or payable by the member under the preceding subsection (d) or under Section 2 of Article IV and not needed by the Association in its operations, notes or similar obligations issued by the government of the member or the depository designated by such member, which shall be non-negotiable, non-interest-bearing and payable at their par value on demand to the account of the Association in the designated depository.

(f) For the purposes of this Agreement the Association shall regard as “freely convertible currency”:

(i) currency of a member which the Association determines, after consultation with the International Monetary Fund, is adequately convertible into the currencies of other members for the purposes of the Association's operations; or

(ii) currency of a member which such member agrees, on terms satisfactory to the Association, to exchange for the currencies of other members for the purposes of the Association's operations.

(g) Except as the Association may otherwise agree, each member listed in Part I of Schedule A shall maintain, in respect of its currency paid in by it as freely convertible currency pursuant to subsection (d) of this Section, the same convertibility as existed at the time of payment.

(h) The conditions on which the initial subscriptions of members other than original members may be made, and the amounts and the terms of payment thereof, shall be determined by the Association pursuant to Section 1 (b) of this Article.

Section 3. Limitation on Liability.

No member shall be liable, by reason of its membership, for obligations of the Association.

Additions to Resources.

Section 1. Additional Subscriptions.

(a) The Association shall at such time as it deems appropriate in the light of the schedule for completion of payments on initial subscriptions of original members, and at intervals of approximately five years thereafter, review the adequacy of its resources and, if it deems desirable, shall authorise a general increase in subscriptions. Notwithstanding the foregoing, general or individual increases in subscriptions may be authorised at any time, provided that an individual increase shall be considered only at the request of the member involved. Subscriptions pursuant to this Section are herein referred to as additional subscriptions.

(b) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (c) below, when additional subscriptions are authorised, the amounts authorised for subscription and the terms and conditions relating thereto shall be as determined by the Association.

(c) When any additional subscription is authorised, each member shall be given an opportunity to subscribe, under such conditions as shall be reasonably determined by the Association, an amount which will enable it to maintain its relative voting power, but no member shall be obligated to subscribe.

(d) All decisions under this Section shall be made by a two-thirds majority of the total voting power.

Section 2. Supplementary Resources Provided by a Member in the Currency of Another Member.

(a) The Association may enter into arrangements, on such terms and conditions consistent with the provisions of this Agreement as may be agreed upon, to receive from any member, in addition to the amounts payable by such member on account of its initial or any additional subscription, supplementary resources in the currency of another member, provided that the Association shall not enter into any such arrangement unless the Association is satisfied that the member whose currency is involved agrees to the use of such currency as supplementary resources and to the terms and conditions governing such use. The arrangements under which any such resources are received may include provisions regarding the disposition of earnings on the resources and regarding the disposition of the resources in the event that the member providing them ceases to be a member or the Association permanently suspends its operations.

(b) The Association shall deliver to the contributing member a Special Development Certificate setting forth the amount and currency of the resources so contributed and the terms and conditions of the arrangements relating to such resources. A Special Development Certificate shall not carry any voting rights and shall be transferable only to the Association.

(c) Nothing in this Section shall preclude the Association from accepting resources from a member in its own currency on such terms as may be agreed upon.

Currencies.

Section 1. Use of Currencies.

(a) Currency of any member listed in Part II of Schedule A, whether or not freely convertible, received by the Association pursuant to Article II, Section 2 (d), in payment of the ninety per cent. portion payable thereunder in the currency of such member, and currency of such member derived therefrom as principal, interest or other charges, may be used by the Association for administrative expenses incurred by the Association in the territories of such member and, insofar as consistent with sound monetary policies, in payment for goods and services produced in the territories of such member and required for projects financed by the Association and located in such territories; and in addition when and to the extent justified by the economic and financial situation of the member concerned as determined by agreement between the member and the Association, such currency shall be freely convertible or otherwise usable for projects financed by the Association and located outside the territories of the member.

(b) The usability of currencies received by the Association in payment of subscriptions other than initial subscriptions of original members, and currencies derived therefrom as principal, interest or other charges, shall be governed by the terms and conditions on which such subscriptions are authorised.

(c) The usability of currencies received by the Association as supplementary resources other than subscriptions, and currencies derived therefrom as principal, interest or other charges, shall be governed by the terms of the arrangements pursuant to which such currencies are received.

(d) All other currencies received by the Association may be freely used and exchanged by the Association and shall not be subject to any restriction by the member whose currency is used or exchanged; provided that the foregoing shall not preclude the Association from entering into any arrangements with the member in whose territories any project financed by the Association is located restricting the use by the Association of such member's currency received as principal, interest or other charges in connection with such financing.

(e) The Association shall take appropriate steps to ensure that, over reasonable intervals of time, the portions of the subscriptions paid under Article II, Section 2 (d) by members listed in Part I of Schedule A shall be used by the Association on an approximately pro rata basis, provided, however, that such portions of such subscriptions as are paid in gold or in a currency other than that of the subscribing member may be used more rapidly.

Section 2. Maintenance of Value of Currency Holdings.

(a) Whenever the par value of a member's currency is reduced or the foreign exchange value of a member's currency has, in the opinion of the Association, depreciated to a significant extent within that member's territories, the member shall pay to the Association within a reasonable time an additional amount of its own currency sufficient to maintain the value, as of the time of subscription, of the amount of the currency of such member paid in to the Association by the member under Article II, Section 2 (d), and currency furnished under the provisions of the present paragraph, whether or not such currency is held in the form of notes accepted pursuant to Article II, Section 2 (e), provided, however, that the foregoing shall apply only so long as and to the extent that such currency shall not have been initially disbursed or exchanged for the currency of another member.

(b) Whenever the par value of a member's currency is increased, or the foreign exchange value of a member's currency has, in the opinion of the Association, appreciated to a significant extent within that member's territories, the Association shall return to such member within a reasonable time an amount of that member's currency equal to the increase in the value of the amount of such currency to which the provisions of paragraph (a) of this Section are applicable.

(c) The provisions of the preceding paragraphs may be waived by the Association when a uniform proportionate change in the par value of the currencies of all its members is made by the International Monetary Fund.

(d) Amounts furnished under the provisions of paragraph (a) of this Section to maintain the value of any currency shall be convertible and usable to the same extent as such currency.

Operations.

Section 1. Use of Resources and Conditions of Financing.

(a) The Association shall provide financing to further development in the less-developed areas of the world included within the Association's membership.

(b) Financing provided by the Association shall be for purposes which in the opinion of the Association are of high developmental priority in the light of the needs of the area or areas concerned and, except in special circumstances, shall be for specific projects.

(c) The Association shall not provide financing if in its opinion such financing is available from private sources on terms which are reasonable for the recipient or could be provided by a loan of the type made by the Bank.

(d) The Association shall not provide financing except upon the recommendation of a competent committee, made after a careful study of the merits of the proposal. Each such committee shall be appointed by the Association and shall include a nominee of the Governor or Governors representing the member or members in whose territories the project under consideration is located and one or more members of the technical staff of the Association. The requirement that the committee include the nominee of a Governor or Governors shall not apply in the case of financing provided to a public international or regional organisation.

(e) The Association shall not provide financing for any project if the member in whose territories the project is located objects to such financing, except that it shall not be necessary for the Association to assure itself that individual members do not object in the case of financing provided to a public international or regional organisation.

(f) The Association shall impose no conditions that the proceeds of its financing shall be spent in the territories of any particular member or members. The foregoing shall not preclude the Association from complying with any restrictions on the use of funds imposed in accordance with the provisions of these Articles, including restrictions attached to supplementary resources pursuant to agreement between the Association and the contributor.