Multilateral development assistance

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will revise down its GDP growth forecast for Thailand to lower than 2.9% this year following the country’s slower-than-expected performance in the first half.  However, the new growth forecast, due to be announced on 22 September, will be higher than 2.5%, ...

The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on 26 August gave the green light to US$305 million in new development loans focused on improving electricity supply, water supply and a major highway. MPs approved a $240 million loan from the Asian Development Bank, $20 million from the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund ...

The Government of Laos and the World Bank on 17 August signed agreements for three projects aiming to improve the efficiency and reliability of electricity, to improve women’s and children’s health and nutrition, and to enable the construction of vital infrastructure including schools, health clinics, roads, ...

Around the world, the way foreign aid works is coming under wider scrutiny. Criticisms of an increasingly privatized international aid “industry” include claims that many of its approaches are too top-down, inflexible and ineffective. Reformers also question the relationships between large international aid organizations and their ...

Vietnam’s economic growth could reach 6-6.2 percent this year underpinned by further recovery in domestic demand, in turn reflecting robust private consumption and investment growth, according to a World Bank report.   The medium-term outlook for Vietnam is positive on balance in the context that growth in developing ...

Cambodia rice farmers have started planting for the 2015 main rice crop in May and will continue until July end. However, unusually high temperatures and low rainfall are raising concerns that this year’s paddy production will suffer significantly due to the drought-inducing El Nino weather ...

Vietnam’s central bank and the World Bank on Thursday signed four credit agreements totaling US$507 million to support Vietnam’s priorities in sustainable agriculture, poverty reduction, and a bus rapid transit system.   The financing covers four projects: the Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project (US$238 million), additional financing for ...

Cambodian and Vietnamese officials are meeting in Phnom Penh over border issues, but on the second of three days, no final decisions were made. Officials are meeting at the Council of Ministers building in Phnom Penh, to discuss June’s violent clashes along the border, as well ...