With the clock ticking on the end-of-June deadline for a final agreement, the world's major industrialized countries appear to be nearing a compromise on fresh funding for the International Development Association.
According to international financial sources, Japan, the United States and major European countries are no longer digging in their heels in the dispute over whether to replace some of the concessional IDA loans with grants, a major sticking point in the negotiations on the 13th replenishment of IDA resources.
It is possible that a compromise deal will be reached and finalized before an annual summit of top leaders from the Group of Eight major countries in Canada in late June, the sources said. The G8 comprises the Group of Seven major industrialized countries — the U.S., Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan — plus Russia.
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