ADB President Takehiko Nakao and other leaders of the regional lender said investments should concentrate on high-quality projects and technology should be made available to all as countries stretches to make up for shortfalls in needed spending, they said. Nakao said he was optimistic about the outlook for Asia, which contributes about half of world economic growth. Overall growth is forecast at 5.7 percent in 2017 and economies in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam are gaining momentum. The current level of spending is below $900 billionAso said the regional lender should generally prioritize poorer countries in allocating its financing while helping "upper middle income" countries with expertise in such areas as environmental protection. Nakao, the ADB president, said the lender was working to find ways to streamline its operations and deepen collaboration with local governments and the private sector.

Source: ABC News May 06, 2017 03:09 UTC