Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will allocate $240 million to the government of Azerbaijan for projects in 2015, Betty Wilkinson, the Director of Public Management, Financial Sector and Trade at ADB's Central and West Asia Department, told Trend June 4.
She said that given the fact that ADB allocates the funds for the private sector on the basis of requests of the companies themselves, it is impossible to name the total amount that they will receive this year.
"Overall, we are increasing the funding of the private sector in all countries where we operate, but first we consider the demands of companies with good management, and we are looking for such companies in all countries," she said.
As for the plans to increase the volume of credits allocated to the Azerbaijani government, Wilkinson said that this issue is regulated by the government of the country, not the bank.
"The Azerbaijani government has itself proposed to limit funding, so that the country could itself monitor the loans taken, and so that they will not exceed a certain level," she said, adding that such countries are more likely to replenish their reserves and reduce external debt. "It is interesting that such a situation is observed in all oil-producing countries in the region."
The ADB was established in 1966, it has 67 members. Its headquarters is located in the capital of the Philippines - Manila.
Azerbaijan joined the ADB on December 22, 1999 with share in the bank's capital of 0.5 percent.
ADB's leading shareholders are Japan and the US (31.2 percent of the total share capital), India and China (12.8 percent), Australia, South Korea and Canada (16 percent).
Since the start of cooperation, the ADB has allocated to Azerbaijan some $1.6 billion for 12 projects in the area of road construction, energy, irrigation, water supply and sanitation improvement.
Edited by CN
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