An emergency food aid project in Cambodia has been tainted by corruption. The Asian Development Bank says that 35 million dollars (US) in aid has been abused. Many poor Cambodians have complained that rice from the food aid program has not been given out fairly.In this "breaking news" story found in The Straits Times from Malaysia, the people blame village chiefs for giving it out to better off friends. The Straits Times November 6th Up to three hundred Cambodians complained to the ADB that they had not received rice handouts while village chiefs have registered relatives and political supporters for the project, the bank said.'I think that some people have been left out. Some of the village chiefs have not followed procedures properly,' the ADB's Piseth Long, implementation officer for...
from the Boston Globe PHNOM PENH, Cambodia --The Asian Development Bank announced Wednesday $35 million in emergency food aid to ease the burden of soaring food prices among some of Cambodia's poorest people.The assistance will provide free rice, seed and fertilizer to 500,000 Cambodians, the poorest of the poor among the country's 14 million people, the bank said.The recipients include slum residents in the capital, Phnom Penh, and farmers in seven provinces around the country's Tonle Sap lake."When the food price inflation spike came, these communities were already in a fragile state. It drove them more sharply over the edge into food poverty," said Arjun Goswami, the bank's country director.The program will run through September 2011.Over the past year rice prices in Cambodia have...
from the Voice of America The Asian Development Bank says that Asian countries can eradicate poverty by 2020. With economic growth in Asia the bank has developed a new method to measure poverty. They say the changes can help with policy and compare levels from country to country. - Kale By Claudia BlumeThe Asian Development Bank has developed a new benchmark to measure poverty in Asia. The ADB says in a region that has seen stellar growth rates and rising income inequality, its new Asian poverty line can help policy makers measure and compare poverty levels. Claudia Blume reports from Hong Kong. Living on one dollar or less a day - that is how poverty is commonly measured around the world. But the Asian Development Bank thinks that in Asia a new benchmark is needed that reflects the...
from the Manila Times This article shows the results of an ADB report that measures assistance programs in the Philippines. - KaleBy, Darwin G. AmojelarThe Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the Philippines' next assistance program remains "daunting" owing to high poverty levels and weak investments.In its Country Assistance Program Evaluation Report, the Manila-based lender said its assistance program over the past five years, or from 2003 to 2007, has been successful in meeting its more selective objectives, despite the need for improvements."However, the larger context for the next country strategy continues to be daunting. Poverty is high. Progress toward Millennium Development Goals is slow and lagging in key areas, and government expenditures for related social and economic...
from Inquirer By Doris DumlaoPhilippine Daily InquirerMANILA, Philippines -- For every 10 percent increase in food prices, about 2.3 million more Filipinos fall into poverty, a new study by an Asian Development Bank economist suggests.The conclusion of a new research paper -- “Has Inflation Hurt the Poor? Regional Analysis in the Philippines” authored by ADB economist Hyun Son -- was that inflation was hitting poor Filipino consumers harder than the more affluent ones."Specifically, the poor are highly sensitive to the price changes in food, particularly staple food items such as rice,” the study said."In addition, concerns over rising food prices are surmounting because such increase can undermine the gains from poverty reduction and human development that developing countries...
from AFP via Google MANILA (AFP) — The Asian Development Bank holds its annual meeting this weekend reeling from a global food crisis that has led to stinging criticism of its international governors for failing to see it coming.The soaring price of basic foods such as rice -- the benchmark Thai variety now fetches some 1,000 dollars a tonne, up threefold on a year ago -- has led to a supply crunch that is worrying governments wary of popular unrest.There are other tough issues facing the bank, notably a simmering internal row among its members over its continuing relevance in a region that has been transformed since the lender was founded 42 years ago.The United States, which with Japan is the ADB's largest shareholder, took the unprecedented recent step of voting against its...
from the International Herald Tribune By Patrick BlumMADRID: Against a background of record rice prices that threaten to destabilize the fast-growing economies of Asia, the Asian Development Bank is rethinking its long-term strategy for reducing poverty at a two-day meeting in Madrid this week.Rajat Nag, managing director of the bank, says dealing with the food crisis is an urgent priority."In the immediate, we have to concentrate on the food side. We have to find ways to deal with this. The poor must have access to income, have the necessary purchasing power" to buy food, he said during an interview ahead of the meeting.Unlike in parts of Africa, the food crisis in Asia is not so much about availability of supplies there are adequate food stocks but more about prices, he...
from ABS CBN News Agence France-PresseAsia's 54 million migrant laborers are helping reduce widespread poverty, and the region's governments should make it easier for them to move and work, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday.In its annual outlook report, the Manila-based ADB said migrant workers in Asia sent back 108.1 billion dollars in remittances to developing regions in 2007, or more than one-third of the global total."Migration does raise income levels for many poor," it said. "International migration and remittances contribute importantly to poverty reduction in Asian countries."Despite those benefits, regulations are still "quite restrictive in most countries and are certainly much less liberal than those governing the movement of goods," the ADB said."Regional governments...
from Reuters MADRID, Donors to the Asian Development Bank have pledged $11.3 billion for the four years 2009 to 2012 to replenish the multi-lateral body's key poverty alleviation fund for Asia's poorest countries, the bank said on Friday.The figure marks a 60 percent increase from the $7 billion donated to the ADB's Asian Development Fund in 2005-2008. The fund provides grants and low interest rate loans to the Asia Pacific region's poorest countries.The bank, whose board of governors are in Madrid for a four-day annual meeting that starts on Saturday, has drawn criticism from the United States that the bank is failing to focus its work on the very poor and lacks accountability.Washington is concerned the ADB is channelling too much money to middle income countries like China and India,...
from the AFP via GoogleMANILA (AFP) — Soaring food prices has pushed back Asia's fight against poverty and some countries may eventually need foreign aid to feed their hungry millions, the Asian Development Bank president said Friday.Haruhiko Kuroda singled out Bangladesh as potentially requiring outside assistance, saying the Manila-based ADB was ready to provide budgetary support to it and other low-income Asian countries that might be required to spend more to help out their poorest citizens.Kuroda said inflation was the most immediate threat to developing Asia's economic growth and said some economies would do well to allow their currencies to appreciate to put a lid on prices that have impacted heavily on the more than 600 million Asians who still lived on a dollar a day or...
from ABS CBN NewsBy CHARO LOGARTAThe Asian Development Bank (ADB) has assured government that it will not mind a breach of its commitment to balance its budget this year, if high commodity prices and a global economic crunch necessitate increased spending.The government's economic managers have said mitigating measures may be implemented to cushion the impact of higher food and fuel prices on the poor.They said they were prepared to spend more, if necessary, a move that concerned several analysts and multilateral agencies, including the World Bank.Need to protect vulnerableBut ADB's Deputy Director-General for Southeast Asia Thomas Crouch told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday that while balancing the budget is an issue of maintaining the country's credibility with investors and...
from The HinduNew Delhi (PTI): Multilateral funding agency Asian Development Bank will lend about 1.45 billion dollars for the development of infrastructure and agriculture to reduce rural poverty in Bihar.The bank would lend for the projects such as Agribusiness Infrastructure Development Project (about 250 million dollar), Power Sector Development Programme (500 million dollar), Urban Infrastructure Development Sector Programme (150 million dollar), state Roads Investment Programme (300 million dollar).According to the ADB, 'India: Country Operations Business Plan 2008-2010', through Agribusiness Infrastructure Development Project poverty would be reduced through increased private partnership in agricultural marketing and integration of small farmers into organised value chains.Recently...
from Forbes MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Philippines needs to identify the most critical factors that constrain growth and poverty reduction in order to sustain the current pace of growth or even accelerate it.The bank said critical constraints to growth include tight fiscal situation, inadequate infrastructure, weak investor confidence due to governance concerns, in particular, corruption and political instability, and the inability to address market failures leading to a small and narrow industrial base.Critical constraints to poverty reduction include lack and slow growth of productive employment opportunities, inequitable access to development opportunities, especially education, health, infrastructure, and productive assets and inadequate social...
from Mainichi Daily NewsKYOTO, Japan -- South Korea urged the Asian Development Bank on Sunday to consider communist North Korea a future client and start preparing to fight poverty in the isolated, desperately poor nation."With positive developments being made on the (North Korean) nuclear issue, I can envisage the international community's response to North Korea cautiously, but significantly improving," Kwon O-kyu, South Korea's governor to the ADB, said during the development bank's annual meeting in Kyoto."In this regard, I suggest that the ADB gear itself up to supporting the reform efforts of potential future clients like (North Korea), when conditions mature," he said.After a several-year standoff with the United States and neighboring nations over its nuclear weapons program,...
from Peace JournalismThe Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a grant worth US$1 million from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), to improve the livelihoods of poor farmers and disadvantaged groups in eastern districts.A news release issued by the ADB said the project would help 6,000 people of Dhankuta, Morang, Saptari, and Sunsari districts to engage in micro enterprises such as off-season farming and high-value crops, production of packaging materials, semi-processing of fruits and vegetables, adding value to farm products, fishpond culture and livestock rearing.“The rural areas of Nepal's eastern hills face chronic poverty, with ethnic minorities, especially women, suffering among the worst,” the release quoted Susanne Nebel, an ADB Rural Development Specialist...