Asian Bank Wants Special Fund

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31659, 20 April 1968, Page 1

Asian Bank Wants Special Fund

A special fund for “soft” loans to needy Asian countries was being sought by the Asian Development Bank, said its president (Mr Takeshi Watanabe) in an interview in Christchurch yesterday.

Countries receiving such loans would pay low interest over long terms to help them with serious balance-of-pay-ments difficulties. Those were the countries that would have difficulty in borrowing from the bank’s capital subscription money or bond issues, which had to be lent on conventional terms. Mr Watanabe, who is visiting member countries of the bank, hopes to discuss such a fund with Cabinet Ministers on Monday. An additional contribution would be needed from members of the bank for that purpose, but he did not plan to specify an amount, he said. The United States, Japan, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands had already pledged money for the special fund. The first SUS2Om of Japan’s pledged amount would be earmarked for agricultural development. A technical assistance fund was also planned, and there could be other special-purpose funds. Mr Watanabe said that in. the 16 months since the bank was formed, 200 persons had been taken on, including 68 professional staff from 22 countries. A loan of SUSSm had been made to the Industrial Finance Corporation of Thailand and a technical assistance mission had been to Indonesia to advise on food production and marketing. Technical assistance had also been given to Korea to help to establish a new agriculture and fisheries corporation.

Loan applications from many Asian countries were being considered Mr Watanabe said, but the bank’s resources were insufficient for it to engage in a very large programme in any one country. The size of each loan had to be reasonably small, and loans had to be concentrated where the need was greatest. Most of the bank's capital came from Asian and Asianregion countries, so Asian countries could consider it to be their own bank. “Our advice will be taken more naturally than the advice of another country,” he said. “Technical assistance will be one of the bank’s most important activities. Good advice sometimes means more than a large amount of money.”