But member countries would likely demand greater accountability in the bank’s lending policies as the financial turmoil deepens, Rajat Nag, ADB managing director general told Reuters.
“I don’t think we are at all, at this point, talking about reducing our assistance to anybody,” Nag said on the sidelines of a business forum. “As a matter of fact, our countries will probably need more assistance, and if they do we will certainly be ready.”
What the current turmoil “will probably demand is that ADB should be much more accountable for the aid that it receives and the development effectiveness of its operations,” he said. Nag said the bank’s concessional loan facility, Asian Development Fund, continues to have sufficient funds to sustain lending because of the medium- to long-term nature of aid flows and no country has said it would pull back on aid.
Last year, the Manila-based ADB approved loans worth $10.1 billion, the most since its creation in 1966. Pakistan was last year’s biggest loan recipient with over $2 billion, followed by India, $1.4 billion, and China, $1.3 billion.