I RECEIVED AN interesting snippet in my e-mail the other day from my younger brother who lives in the logging town of Burns Lake, British Columbia - one traffic light, three second-hand pick-up truck merchants, six gas stations, porn and slasher titles galore at the local video shop, little else.
Apparently, a local entrepreneur started up his own bank 15 years ago without official approval and prospered mightily. He knew the market and the market knew him. It was local community banking at its best and, with a 15-year history, 439288 BC's financial position was probably as sound as any Canadian bank's.
But it is over. The financial cops have shut it down. If you want bridging finance to buy a skidder in Burns Lake you are subject to lending policies devised in Toronto and you will certainly not get your money with one phone call as you could from Glenn Anderson if he knew you. Burns Lake will be the loser.
I mention it because I know a place that needs Glenn Anderson even more than Burns Lake does. That place is Afghanistan. What Afghanistan will get instead, however, is the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Afghanistan will be the loser.
The ADB, you see, has announced that it will play a 'key role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan'. I shall pass over all the politically correct talk of how it will channel, funnel and oversee implementation of assistance as I think I know what will actually ensue.
We shall start with the fact that what appears to have troubled ADB most at its annual meeting in Shanghai last week was allegations of having given money to environmental offenders. Count on it that there will be no repeat in Afghanistan. There will be mountains of environmental impact reports before a cent goes out. Abdul is not to spill chemicals on the pristine soil of Kabul.
Then there was last week's complaint that the ADB had, horror of horrors, recently assisted in privatisation of utilities. We certainly cannot have that. Self-sustaining industry is taboo. It must be subsidised forever.