AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK LOANS ROSE 42 PCT IN 1986
The African Development Bank (ADB) said
it increased its lending by 42.1 pct last year to 1.64 billion
dlrs from 1.15 billion dlrs in 1985.
    A bank statement said agriculture, set as the main growth
area in a five-year economic recovery program adopted in 1985
by African states, received 607 mln dlrs, 37 pct of the total.
    The ADB is made up of the bank itself, its financing
soft-loan arm, the African Development Fund (ADF) and the
Nigeria Trust Fund, another soft-loan institution.
    ADB president Babacar N'Diaye released a 1987 economic
report on Africa prepared by the ADB and the U.N. Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA), saying progress was being made
toward substantial increases in the bank's capital resources.
    He said an ad-hoc committee of the ADB board of governors,
comprising 18 African and non-African countries, recommended a
200 pct increase in the organisation's capital for 1987-91.
    He said such an increase would raise capital from around
6.55 billion dlrs to 19.66 billion dlrs, adding he was hopeful
the proposal would be adopted at the annual meetings of the
bank and fund, due to be held jointly in Cairo in June.
    He welcomed France's recent proposals to the Paris Club of
Western government creditors to extend repayment periods for
Third World debts and give better rescheduling terms.
    "The proposition represents a major step forward. But
African countries should not be the ones to ask for large-scale
debt write-offs," he said. Africa's total external debt was
estimated at 175 billion dlrs at the end of 1986.
    The ECA-ADB report said prospects would remain bleak for
African economies in 1987 but predicted Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) growth ranging between 2.5 and four pct, compared with
1.2 pct last year.
 REUTER
