December 21, 2003	Sunday	Shawwal 26, 1424

MANILA, Dec 20: The Asian Development Bank announced on Saturday that it was extending loans and credit guarantees totalling $260 million to Pakistan.

A package of $170 million in loans and a partial credit guarantee will go to support policy reforms and give credit to help Pakistani small and medium enterprises to make them more competitive and profitable, the ADB said.

About 30,000 small and medium enterprises will have access to financial services made available through the ADB’s reforms, the bank said in a statement from its headquarters in the Philippine capital.

The ADB is extending another loan package worth $90 million to improve the living and health conditions of more than 3.6 million urban poor and slum dwellers in the southern province of Punjab.

This will include the provision of additional infrastructure and services such as water supply, repair and extension of sewerage systems and construction of new waste-water treatment plants.

The loan will cover improved collection of solid waste, better access roads from urban slums to neighbourhoods and relocation of slaughterhouses to improve hygiene and waste disposal in residential areas.—AFP