GENEVA - The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) concessional loan window is short 1.7 billion dollars because of the weak yen and shareholder countries stalling on their contributions, bank chief Mitsuo Sato said Friday. Sato said the targeted budget for the Asian Development Fund from 1997 to 2000 was 6.3 billion dollars, but the money on hand was only 4.6 billion dollars.

The fund, pooled from contributions from the industrialized countries and the Asia's tiger economies, is lent at zero interest to the region's poorest nations with repayment terms of up to 40 years. Sato said the weak yen had drastically reduced the amount since a major donor to the fund is Japan. Lending is in dollars but the funding comes in yen, Sato said in a news conference at the end of the bank's 31st annual meeting.

Some donors have also failed to pay their contributions on time, the ADB chief said but did not name the countries. The bank was also unable to transfer funds from its ordinary capital resources to the soft-loan window because of its aid commitment of four billion dollars to South Korea, which has been badly battered by the Asian financial turmoil. (AFP)