From the street protesters who want to see it abolished to the donor nations that want to see it reformed, many staked competing claims to the future of the Asian Development Bank future at its annual meeting this past week. ADB faces fractious
debate over futureReuters
The debate among the 59 member governments about the mission of the Manila-based bank, which is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia, splintered along lines of both geography and wealth.
Many of the 25 donor nations, including Britain and Australia, pressed the ADB to improve existing lending programs, which ran to $5.9 billion last year but failed to meet announced goals about half of the time, according to an audit by the bank.
Japan, by far the ADB's biggest patron and its de facto controlling member, showed it has not given up on a grander vision: moving toward an Asian Monetary Fund, an idea first floated in the wake of the 1997 currency crisis but shot down by U.S. opposition at the time.
This week Japan put the first money on the table as part of an initiative announced last year in the Thai city of Chiang Mai: $6 billion in credit lines for Thailand, Korea and Malaysia as a down payment on the dream of more permanent regional monetary integration.
"I personally think we should bring the issue toward that direction," Japan's senior vice finance minister, Seiichiro Murakami, told reporters.
Financial analysts remained deeply skeptical the credit lines would work as advertised and were cautious that the money could be used to subvert tough lending terms demanded by the International Monetary Fund.
Asian Development Bank
