ADB's operations in PRC to stress environment & other sectors
19 Sep '06
2 min read
ADB's planned average lending of $1.5 billion per year to the People's Republic of China (PRC) over the next two years will be spread more evenly across different sectors.
According to its updated strategy and program for the country, ADB will maintain its focus on projects for the poorer central and western provinces.
But the proportion of loans to agriculture and natural resources projects will more than double from 10 percent to 25 percent, and the social infrastructure sector's share will increase from 10 percent to 23 percent, compared with the lending program during 2004-2006.
Transportation, a sector that has historically received the bulk of ADB's loans, will receive 41 percent of the loans, down from a 59 percent share in 2005. The remaining 11 percent will go to energy projects.
“ADB's future operations in the PRC will emphasize rural development, environment, energy conservation, urban development, and regional cooperation, in line with the country's 11th Five-Year Program for 2006-2010,” says Toru Shibuichi, ADB Country Director for the PRC.
“ADB will mobilize resources and develop new instruments to meet the demand for more balanced development among China's regions, and between the country's rural and urban areas.”
China has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty, with the number of rural poor falling from about 250 million in 1978 to about 23.7 million in 2005.
More targeted and innovative approaches, however, are needed to work on pockets of persistent absolute poverty, the vulnerability of a large population living on the brink of poverty, and new manifestations of urban poverty.
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