US balks, but IDA fund for poor nations survives

Thirty-one countries are putting up $2 billion to rescue an aid program for poor nations that had been threatened by Washington's refusal to allocate additional funds due to budget cuts.

The rescue plan, approved Wednesday by delegates at the World Bank's joint meeting with the International Monetary Fund, heads off a threatened collapse in contributions to the International Development Association this year and next. The IDA keeps the world's poorest countries afloat with long-term loans at negligible interest rates.

The joint meeting adjourned Thursday.