Consequently, legal restraints on the ability of firms to readily implement such cost reductions lower the prospective rates of return on the newer technologies and, thus, the incentives to apply them.
On the contrary, about 50 per cent of the overall IBRD exposure is currently to countries with per capita income above 2,900 US dollars, and 30 per cent is to countries that can borrow from the market at a spread of no more than 150 basis points over the corresponding US Treasury.