ADB not to suspend RI loan

ADB not to suspend RI loan

MANILA (Dow Jones): The Asian Development Bank won't suspend
previously approved emergency assistance loans to Indonesia
despite the escalating violence in East Timor, a senior ADB
official told Dow Jones Newswires.

"I don't see any legal ground to do that," said Shoji
Nishimoto, director for the Programs Department East of the ADB,
referring to the Manila-based bank's charter that "clearly states
we are a nonpolitical institution."

Both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have
threatened to freeze loans to Indonesia unless the government
stops the violence in East Timor.

ADB's Nishimoto said the Manila-based bank's emergency
assistance loans to Indonesia were aimed at supporting the
country's recovery from the regional financial crisis.

Suspending the disbursement of these loans will run counter to
the ADB's goal of helping the Jakarta government implement
economic reforms, Nishimoto said.

"If we stop our loan disbursements, thousands of people who
have nothing to do with East Timor will suffer," he said. "The
East Timor issue is purely political."