ADB to lend Thailand $1b

ADB to lend Thailand $1b

BANGKOK (Reuters): The Asian Development Bank is finalizing details of a $1 billion, five-year syndicated loan to help Thailand boost its exports by March, Thai finance ministry officials said yesterday.

A ministry official working on the loan said the export financing facility, to be guaranteed by the ADB during the first three years, would bear preferential interest rates below normal commercial borrowing.

The source said Japanese, U.S., European and Singapore banks keen to participate in the syndication include the Industrial Bank of Japan Ltd , Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd, Citicorp , ABN AMRO, Development Bank of Singapore, and Barclays Plc .