ADB will not expand TFFP in Burma

by Siddique Islam
Thursday, 17 December 2009 17:42

Dhaka (Mizzima) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is not interested in expanding its Trade Finance Facilitation Program (TFFP) in Burma calling it a ‘sensitive’ country, a senior ADB official said in Dhaka on Thursday.

“We’re not interested in expanding the ongoing TFFP in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma,” Steven Beck, the head of Trade Finance Capital Markets and Financial Sectors Division and Private Sector Operations Department of the ADB, said.

There is lower market demand of such trade facilitation in the South East Asian country, he added.

Mr. Steven is now in Dhaka for expansion of the TFFP in Bangladesh by signing deals with 12 local private commercial banks.

The TFFP was set up in 2004 and was expanded to a $1 billion programme in March this year after the ADB perceived a growing and urgent need to address the lack of finance that was holding back trade, particularly in developing economies.

Under the programme, the triple-A rated ADB provides loans and guarantees through, and in conjunction with, local and international banks to back trade transactions.

The TFFP is already active in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The TFFP is scheduled to expand in Philippines, Mongolia and Uzbekistan in the first quarter of 2010. It will be followed by Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, after which it will make its presence felt in all other Central Asian countries over the course of the rest of 2010, the Manila-based multilateral donor agency said.