KUALA LUMPUR — It is high time that the proposal for an Asean Development Bank be given serious consideration to ensure sustainable regional growth and provide stronger support for all member states.
Asean Business Advisory Council chairman Tan Sri Nazri Razak said that such an institution is necessary, given the significant economic disparities that still exist in Asean countries.
“I think now is the right time for us to seriously consider establishing an Asean Development Bank, just like how Europe has the European Investment Bank.
"Currently, we only have the Asian Development Bank (ADB), but looking at Asean’s aspirations, I believe we need our own development bank, similar to Malaysia’s development banks, but one that serves the entire Asean region," he said.
Nazir was responding to press queries on what measures could be taken to help narrow the economic disparities among Asean nations, on the sidelines of the Selangor Asean Business Conference today, held in conjunction with the Selangor International Business Summit (SIBS) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
He added that the proposed bank would primarily focus on financing infrastructure development projects across Asean member states.
A regional development bank is a financial institution that provides funding and technical assistance to support economic growth and infrastructure projects within a specific geographic region.
Earlier, Nazir highlighted the vast economic disparity among Asean nations, noting that Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita stands at around US$90,000 (RM379,215), compared to less than US$2,000 (RM8,427) in Laos.
"This shows that within Asean, there are clear disparities in development levels.
"We need to think about how to channel more investments into less-developed member countries," he said.
