‘Easy loans by international banks damaging national policies’

Staff Reporter, Vijayawada: Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha national convener Soumya Dutta has said that the loans borrowed from international banks like the China-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) by the governments are going to turn into a huge burden for the State’s economy as well as the public in the future.

In the wake of AIIB’s third annual meeting scheduled to be held on June 25 and June 26 in Mumbai, the members of the National Alliance of People’s Movements on Saturday organised a consultation on Development Finance in AP: Implication for People’s Movements, Livelihoods and Environment in the city.

Addressing a press conference later, Mr. Dutta said that the emergence of banks like the AIIB that were readily giving away loans had even caused the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to dilute their own standards. These banks were also damaging the national policies by extending loans to projects like roads, electricity lines while the country needed more investment in education, water and basic amenities, he said.

A.P.’s case

He further said issuance of loans without due diligence was a major concern and the States got attracted to the offers made by the international banks.

“In A.P., the government has borrowed a huge amount of loan from the AIIB for electrification of rural areas in which automation of substations has cut job opportunities,” he said.

Centre for Financial Accountability’s Tani Alex said that the working group on international financial institutions was organising a three-day ‘Peoples’ Convention on Infrastructure Financing’ from June 21 in Mumbai ahead of the AIIB annual meeting.

Students, activists, experts and others from across the country were going to participate in the convention and discuss the impact of unaccountable financial funding on the States and public across the country.

She said about 25 persons from Amaravati were also going to take part in a special session on A.P.’s capital city project.

Prof. C. Ramachandraiah of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, NAPM national advisor Ramakrishna Raju, NAPM representative Meera Sangamitra and others were present.

The story, published in The Hindu, can be accessed here.

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