Manila, Philippines (BBN)– The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is funding a year-long awareness campaign on credit enhancement products in India, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Philippines, which should ultimately help the countries mobilize more funds for development projects.
“Asia needs to invest an estimated $8 trillion in infrastructure between 2010 and 2020,” an ADB announcement said on Sunday. 
Governments and development agencies can fund only a portion of this, with the balance left to the private sector to cover. Many ADB developing member countries continue to experience enormous liquidity but face constraints in mobilizing it because of uncertainties about lending to sovereign and non-sovereign borrowers in emerging markets. 
Credit enhancement products such as guarantees can offset some of these concerns but are rarely used in the region because there is little understanding of how they work.
“Credit enhancement products can attract private capital to spur trade and investment, including through public-private partnerships,” said Tadashi Kondo, Head of ADB’s Office of Cofinancing Operations. “A better understanding of these products should help the five countries use them more often in the next 3 to 5 years.” 
ADB is providing $250,000 in technical assistance sourced from the Technical Assistance Special Fund to finance learning workshops targeting at least 200 senior and mid-level managers in the governments of the five countries. 
This marks the second phase of the training. In 2009, ADB held training for 424 participants in Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Viet Nam, and the Philippines.
 
BBN/SI/AD-30Jan11-4:04 pm (BST)