By Tamora Vidaillet
PARIS, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The Asian Development Bank hopes to raise non-concessional lending to the crisis-hit Asian region by as much as 50 percent this year and is preparing to trim its growth forecasts, a top official said on Tuesday.
Asian governments had stepped up requests for loans from the summer of last year, with more lining up for the ADB's help in recent weeks as the impact of the financial crisis deepened, said ADB Managing Director General Rajat Nag.
Provided the ADB's 67 shareholder countries agreed to help double or triple the bank's capital base at an annual meeting in May, the lender could ramp up non-concessional loans to meet the growing need of countries in pain. "We are very hopeful. I don't think there is resistance in principle," said Nag of the ADB's proposal that shareholders cough up capital to aid development in Asia.
"On the non-concessional (side), we would be able to go from about $8.5 billion to between $11 and $13 billion, depending on how much capital increase we can get," he told Reuters.
The ADB hopes to hammer out a deal with its members, which include 17 European nations and the United States, on the Indonesian island of Bali in May.
The authorised and subscribed capital of the Manila-based institution stood at $55.2 billion at the end of last September.
Despite massive financial strains among shareholders -- the result of domestic stimulus programs aimed at overcoming the crisis -- nations could easily cough up the say five percent of increased capital needed to foster stability in Asia, he said.
LOWER FORECASTS
Turning to growth forecasts for Asia, Nag said the ADB was looking to make downward revisions for 2009, to put its regional forecast at the lower end of a five to six percent range, from 5.8 percent now.
"It is being revised and we will come up with another one in March which will be significantly lower," he said.
"It will be in the range of five to six percent, but it will probably be towards the lower end of that range," he said of the forecast for growth in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
The ADB normally updates its forecasts twice a year, in April and September.
The worsening climate had prompted more discussions between the ADB and Asian nations on lending facilities, Nag said.
Talks were largely at a preliminary stage, with the trend of Asian countries seeking help from multilateral institutions likely to last around two years, he said.
As a result, the long-term goal of the ADB to increase non-sovereign, including private sector, lending to 50 percent from 30 percent now could be temporarily compromised.
"There might be a pull back on that because of some of the very high priorities of social sector investment....but we don't want to lose sight of our long-term strategy and support for long-term development," he said.
To finance its lending programs, the ADB plans to raise some $9-$10 billion this year, via different types of debt issues.
On Monday, the ADB issued $1 billion worth of 3-year notes, which Nag said had met with strong investor appetite.
The March 2012 global bonds carried a coupon rate of 2.125 percent per annum, payable semi-annually, and were priced at 99.779 to yield 92.25 basis points over comparable U.S. Treasuries. (Reporting by Tamora Vidaillet; Editing by Andy Bruce)