Bill Clinton: “Japan November 16, 1998 Today we are pleased to announce a new multilateral initiative to revitalize private sector…”

“Japan November 16, 1998 Today we are pleased to announce a new multilateral initiative to revitalize private sector growth in Asia. Several of the countries hardest hit by the crisis have made great strides in recent months toward restoring stability. The major challenge they face today is restarting growth as quickly as possible. To support this effort, Japan and the United States, with the support of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, are launching the Asian Growth and Recovery Initiative. This initiative has four main components: First, accelerating the pace of bank and corporate restructuring by removing impediments to the return of growth. By mobilizing new financing to recapitalize banks, we aim to provide strong incentives to remove policy and institutional constraints that block rapid restructuring. The Asian Growth and Recovery Program, with the support of the World Bank, the ADB and bilateral contributors, will help catalyze significant private financing for countries in the region which have put comprehensive restructuring programs in place. The United States, Japan, the World Bank and the ADB are working together to establish this program and identify sources of funding. We will target mobilizing $5 billion in bilateral and multilateral support available initially, which we expect will leverage substantial new private financing.…”