by Piyaporn Hawiset
16 November 2002
A conference of labour activists from Asean countries on November 9, 2002 agreed to push for disclosure of details of loans obtained from international financial institutions, given that the loans seemed to have more of political agendas attached to them or had benefits for the economic and political elite rather than an actual intent to bring about real development and the amelioration in the lives of millions of people living in abject poverty. The participants also said with one voice that most of the development schemes funded by those loans failed to benefit the general public.
The participating activists were from countries seeking loans from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They included Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. The participants said the public was always kept in the dark about the obligations of the loans sought from these institutions.
Delegates from the Philippines cited the Grains Sector Development Program financed through a loan from the Asian Development Bank. Farmers' groups in the Philippines had become angry at the terms set by the Asian Development Bank for its $175 million Grains Sector Development Program (GSDP) loan and they want the government to weed out loan provisions that would have a negative impact on small farmers. They said the project was actually designed to further impoverish grains farmers as well as forcing ordinary Filipino taxpayers to have to pay huge amounts to the First World countries financing the loan because terms call for farmers to provide up to 30 percent equity in the project, an amount farmers cannot afford as they barely live above subsistence level. Most people in the Philippines are poverty-stricken and about half live in abject poverty.
The conference also agreed to work on a framework to oppose further privatisation of state enterprises. This was often a condition attached to any loans made by the institutions. The participants stressed a need for labour unions to have a say in formulating policies on the privatisation of state enterprises. Somboon Sapsan, secretary-general of the State Enterprise Relations Confederation, vowed to continue his fight against more privatisation of state enterprise agencies.
The conference also noted that several of the programmes funded by those loans were laced with corruption and controversy. Cited as an example was Thailand's waste water treatment scheme in Samut Prakan's Klong Dan worth US$750 million. The scheme, funded by ADB loans, adversely affected shellfish farming in the area and the ADB was still forcing the project to go ahead notwithstanding it had conceded that it was laced with considerable corruption.