BackChidambaram pushes for enhanced capitalization of Asian Development Bank
The statement comes amid growing concerns that ADB may be forced to cut back on lending due to capital constraint
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New Delhi: Finance minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday pushed for enhanced capitalization of Asian Development Bank (ADB) to ensure the bank can increase its lending capacity in the next few years. The statement comes amid growing concerns that ADB may be forced to cut back on its lending due to capital constraints.
Addressing ADB’s 47th annual meeting at Astana in Kazakhstan, Chidambaram stressed that increasing ADBs lending levels are important to meet the growing requirements of nations in the region.
“As the main development bank of the region, we need to have sufficiently resourced ADB to support the growing needs of the members, lest ADB’s capacity to assist its members to address serous challenges such as fighting poverty or developing much needed infrastructure is greatly diminished," he said.
The finance minister added that the aim should be double ADB’s lending capacity to around $20 billion over the next 10 years. The annual lending capacity of ADB has been around $10-11 billion.
Chidambaram said that India will contribute $30 million to one of ADB’s fund beginning October 2014. ADB lends around $2 billion annually to India.
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