Indonesia still ADB's largest borrower

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia remains the largest borrower of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), with cumulative loans of US$13 billion, the Manila-based bank's representative in Indonesia, T.C. Patterson said yesterday.

Patterson said the ADB's lending to Indonesia has increased steadily from an annual average of about $100 million in the 1970s to $500 million per year in the 1980s.

"The bank's lending to Indonesia increased further to more than $1 billion annually in the current decade. To date, cumulative ADB lending to Indonesia has reached about $13 billion," he told a seminar coorganized by the Ministry of Forestry and the Embassy of Finland.

Patterson said the agriculture sector, which includes forestry-related projects, is the largest sector to receive loans from the ADB, with a 27 percent share. Second largest is the social infrastructure sector, including urban development, education and health, with a 23 percent share.

The bank's lending to the energy sector is around 18 percent of its total loans to Indonesia, while its lending to transport and communications is 18 percent, he said.

The financial sector received about 8 percent of the bank's total loans. Paterson said the sector received $116 million in direct financial assistance, including $19 million for equity facilities, $6 million for underwriting and $91 million for terms loans.

Speaking at the seminar which marked the visit of Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Kalevi Hernila, Patterson said the bank also provided two-step loans to the Indonesian private sector through local commercial banks.

"These loans, amounting to about $715 million, have been provided for a large number of medium and small-scale businesses in agriculture, fisheries and manufacturing industries," he said.

The strategic objectives of ADB's future operations are to support economic growth, human resource development and sustainable utilization of natural resources in line with Indonesia's sixth five-year development plan, Paterson said.

"The bank's important wide concerns of poverty reduction and improving the status of women are regarded as integral part of the pursuit of these three objectives," he said.

To support Indonesia's increasingly efficient growth, ADB's operation programs will emphasize attempts to raise international competitiveness, he said. (hen)