Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blank, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.
Development banks are international lending groups. They lend money to developing countries to help fuel economic growth and social (36) ________. They are not part of the World Bank, the International (37) ________ Fund or the United Nations. The money comes from member countries and borrowing on world markets.
Development banks provide long-term loans at market (38) ________. They provide even longer-term loans at below-market interest rates. These banks also provide technical (39) ________ and (40) ________.
There are four main ones. The oldest is the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. It began in 1959. President Juscelino Kubitschek of Brazil had (41) ________ a bank to aid economic growth in the Americas. The (42) ________ of American States agreed. Today the bank is worth over 100,000 million dollars. It holds only 4 percent of that. The other money is (43) ________ by its members. (44) ________________________________________. 26 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean borrow from the bank.
The African Development Bank has its roots in an agreement signed in Sudan in 1963. It is based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. (45) ________________________________________. The country with the most votes in the bank is Nigeria, followed as of July by the United States, Japan and Egypt.
The Asian Development Bank started in 1966. It is based in Manila, in the Philippines. There are 63 members, mostly in Asia. (46) ________________________________________.