US TO URGE DEVELOPMENT BANKS TO ADJUST FOCUS
ArmRadio.am
15.05.2006 17:50
The United States in upcoming meetings with the African Development
Bank (ADB) and European Bank for Reconstruction Development (EBRD)
will urge the regional institutions to adjust their focus to best
serve the poor, says a senior official of the US Treasury Department.
Clay Lowery, Treasury assistant secretary for international affairs,
said when he meets with the EBRD, which gathers in London on May 21-22,
he will present the US view that the bank’s focus should shift away
from the countries it has assisted since its founding in 1990 to
still-poor areas of Southern Europe and the former Soviet Union –
such as Armenia, Georgia and parts of Russia.
EBRD should “graduate” countries that are now part of the European
Union – countries whose average annual income per capita has grown
to $10,000. Areas needing more help have an average annual income
per capita of $2,000, he said.