World Bank (WB) President Robert Zoellick said on Tuesday that the bank would stop disbursing the 270 million U.S. dollars in loan to Honduras until the situation in the Central American country stabilized.

It will not consider new credits to the Central American nation at least for the time being, news reports reaching here quoted the WB chief as saying.

The WB is providing 400 million dollars for a total of 16 development projects in Honduras in interest free loans, 270 million of which are yet to be disbursed. Such loans by the WB are rare for Latin American countries.

The bank has also decided to halt a credit of 80 million dollars for Honduras' new fiscal year starting on Wednesday.

It was still hard to measure the coup's economic impact on the country and its possible influence on Central American integration, said Zoellick. He was referring to the military coup that ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya on Sunday.

The WB would work with the Organization of American States (OAS) and other relevant parties to bring the country back to the track of democracy, which was also the underlying reason for the credit suspension, he said.

Demonstrations continued for and against Zelaya in Honduras on Tuesday. Two people have died in protests against the coup, and hundreds more injured or jailed.

The interim leadership has decided to extend the curfew for 72 hours on top of that on Sunday and Monday nights.

Source: Xinhua