AFRICAN BANK OFFICIAL CONFIDENT ON LOAN REPAYMENTS
The Secretary-General of the African
Development Bank expressed confidence in the institution's
ability to handle potential problems with repayment of
development financing loans.
    Koffi Dei-Anang told a news conference at the bank's
headquarters that loan arrears were only 80 mln dlrs at
present, a small percentage of total ADB lending which exceeded
one billion dlrs in 1986.
    Some commercial banks have recently taken extraordinary
measures to deal with third world lending strategies.
    "We do have difficulty with repayment of loans on time,"
Dei-Anang said. But he denied than any ADB loan arrears were
more than 12 months behind schedule.
    "We have never had a default. We have never written off a
loan," he added.
    Dei-Anang said the Abidjan-based ADB will hold its annual
general meeting in Cairo from June 9 to June 11 and over 1,000
delegates were expected to attend.
    The agenda will include the approval of the bank's annual
report and accounts, but there will be no debate on the capital
increase which is currently being voted on by the ADB
governors.
    An ADB spokeswoman said the U.S. Had voted for a 200 pct
increase in the bank's capital, but other votes were still
coming in.
    In December, an ad-hoc committee of the ADB's board of
governors, comprising 18 African and non-African countries,
agreed that a 200 pct increase was necessary to finance a rise
in lending between 1987 and 1991.
    If the recommendations are approved by the board, the
capital of the bank would rise from around 6.55 billion dlrs to
19.66 billion dlrs.
    Dei-Anang said the capital increase would help the bank
improve its borrowing capacity. "The capital increase is in
effect a passport to the capital market," he said.
    "It will enable us to borrow something like 4.5 billion dlrs
in the next five years," he added.
 REUTER
