Asian Development Bank set to run out of funds

07/05/2008 20:45:50

The Asian Development Bank has warned it will run out of money by 2010, unless more funds are forthcoming from donor countries.

Because of the current global food crisis, the ADB says it needs more funding to rescue millions of people from hunger and malnutrition.

Global food prices have nearly doubled in three years, sparking riots last month in Egypt and Haiti, and restrictions on food exports in Brazil, Vietnam, India and Egypt.

The ADB says the world food crisis could set the Asia Pacific region back decades, but some organisations say the bank itself is part of the problem, taking on too many high risk projects rather than focussing on poverty

Stephanie Lusby, from Jubilee Australia, a non-government organisation advocating debt relief for developing countries agrees, saying the ADB has forgotten it's real purpose

"In a lot of instances in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, even Papua New Guinea much closer to home for us it's been the banks own policies that have facilitated the current crisis that we see the world in at the moment."

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