Reposted from 4-traders
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today unveiled its new three-year rolling Country Operations Business Plan (COBP) for 2013-2015, which marks ADB’s strategic focus in Cambodia towards urbanization of secondary towns, urban-rural linkages, economic corridor development, climate change, and private sector development.
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Bangladesh Thursday signed an agreement for $300 million loan to help the country stabilise its financial market, making it safer and more attractive to invest.
The assistance will help meet the long-term financing requirements and thereby address the current infrastructure investment gap in Bangladesh, Xinhua quoted the Manila-based lender as saying in a statement.
Iqbal Mahmood, senior secretary of Bangladesh’s Economic Relations Division, and M. Teresa Kho, country director of ADB’s Bangladesh Resident Mission, signed the agreement.
The ADB loan will be used to help the securities regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, do a better job of independently overseeing activities, and to set up specialized tribunals to deal with financial cases.
Photo Credit: ADB
Weekend Links
By Steve Hashim
Each weekend we take a step outside our normal coverage to provide our readers with links to some of the stories we find the most intriguing from around the globe.
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, “The Great Game, Burma Edition”, Ian Storey
Southeast Asia Realtime, “ADB Targets Crumbling Transport Systems as It Plans Myanmar Return”, Sam Holmes
beyondbrics, “Vietnam gets E&Y seal of approval”, Avantika Chilkoti More…
ADB initiated only four hydropower projects worth $544.1 million in Pakistan since 2002
Reposted from Business Recorder
By Asma Razaq
The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) funding in Pakistan’s hydropower sector over the past 10 years is insignificant although it recognises huge investment potential in this sector.
ADB’s website shows that the Bank has initiated only four hydropower projects worth $544.1 million in Pakistan since 2002 although according to one of its report ‘Development Effectiveness Report 2011′, the Bank admitted that Pakistan has an abundance of hydel potential, the development of which has been stalled because of tight fiscal situation and limited domestic and international financing appetite. More…
Weekend Links
By Steve Hashim
Each weekend we take a step outside our normal coverage to provide our readers with links to some of the stories we find the most intriguing from around the globe.
Diverging Markets, “On navigating the choppy waters of logistics, supply chain and customer relations”
David Roodman’s Microfinance Open Book Blog, “A Banking System Is More Than a Bunch of Banks”, David Roodman
The Economist, “Global non-cash payments”
Asia News Network, “Cambodia among fastest-growing economies in 5 years: IMF” More…
International Monetary Fund should play a role in monitoring Myanmar’s policy stance
Tokyo – A meeting of Myanmar’s key international creditors agreed Thursday on the importance of supporting the country’s overhauls, though they didn’t reach a comprehensive deal to reduce the emerging Southeast Asian nation’s debt burden, Japan’s finance ministry said. More…
Asian Development Bank (ADB) remained the largest loan provider to Pakistan
Reposted from Business Recorder
Pakistan has received foreign assistance of $226.5 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal year including $140.8 million from multilateral donors while $85.7 million has been received from bilaterals. Documents obtained by Business Recorder showed that from July 2012 till date, Asian Development Bank (ADB) remained the largest loan provider to Pakistan, disbursing $78.6 million.
The World Bank emerged as the second largest loan provider: it released 56.04 million dollars, while UK was third among donors. It disbursed $32.3 million. All foreign assistance received by the country is ‘project aid’ not program lending that has not been disbursed for the last two and a half years due to non-availability of the Letter of Comfort (LoC) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). US, the largest grant provider to Pakistan in 2011-12, disbursed $13.6 million while Islamic Development Bank (IDB) provided $6.2 million in the first quarter of 2012-13. More…
Pakistan’s vulnerability to a balance of payments crisis will be increased around election time, said official sources.
Reposted from The News International
By Mehtab Haider
ISLAMABAD: With a $1.1 billion payment due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in February 2013, Pakistan’s vulnerability to a balance of payments crisis will be increased around election time, said official sources. More…
Japanese banks considering to offer a $900 million bridge loan for Myanmar
TOKYO—When the world’s top economic policy makers converge in Tokyo later this week, a prominent agenda item alongside the euro crisis and global slowdown will be debt relief for rapidly reforming Myanmar. More…
Growth in Southeast Asia is expected 5% in 2012
Burma’s economic growth is expected to increase to 6.3 percent this year and 6.5 per cent in 2013, up from the initial projections of 6 per cent and 6.3 per cent, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Wednesday.
“All-in-all, Myanmar’s economic performance is good and appears to be getting better,” Craig Steffensen, ADB country director for Thailand, said. More…
